Joseph Legueri of Gilbert is a writer, lifelong Iron Range resident, regular contributor to the News Tribune Opinion page and retired educator who taught English and college writing to grades 7-12 for 35 years at Biwabik and Mesabi East schools.
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A handful of communities around the state are joining a movement to recognize Native Americans on the federal holiday known as Columbus Day.
Garduno read a ceremonial announcement on Wednesday night that called for the city to honor indigenous people on that date.
Several other cities across the country have also recently began to recognize Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day. Local San Antonio activists are pressing for the same. Hawaii celebrates the day as Discoverers’ Day, honoring Polynesians who first inhabited the islands, and South Dakota celebrates October. 12 as Native American Day.
Gino Barichello, who attended Berkeley city council meetings in the 1990s that resulted in the establishment of Indigenous Peoples Day, said he viewed the trend with pride. Through that work, they were able to connect to young people who, during a mayoral forum in 2013, asked candidates if they would support Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day.
“It is important to recognize there is a strategy on the ground”.
Six councilors signed onto the proclamation, but three others – all Republican -declined to do so.
Meanwhile, in Lawrence, Kansas, the efforts for Indigenous People Day started with students from Haskell University.
Not only did they butcher and enslave the Tainos, Columbus and his men introduced European diseases to the Indians. It is the first pow-wow to be held in Manhattan.
Columbus Day in the United States is also Canadian Thanksgiving. “If you look at Columbus’ journey here, and the colonization, and the genocide, and the slavery he brought to this hemisphere, we probably weren’t supposed to make it 500 years later, but our traditions, our culture, they are here”. Was he a flawless man, no, but who is? So even then Columbus was seen as a criminal who filled his ships with rapists, murders and thieves.
“Native American history is American history and should be highlighted in a very intentional way to acknowledge the daily contributions of our Indigenous leaders and ancestors – everything that we do as a nation is on ceded land from Native tribes”, wrote Fry, who is the Portland Youth and Elders Council Coordinator for the NAYA Family Center.
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The foundation’s leadership council is scheduled later this month to take up the issue.
