Skip to main content

Boreal Community Media

Minnesota among states honoring indigenous people instead of Columbus

Oct 14, 2019 08:10AM ● By Editor

In this April 27, 2019 file photo, dancers enter at the Gathering of Nations, one of the world's largest gatherings of indigenous people in Albuquerque, N.M. A handful of states, including New Mexico and Maine, are celebrating their first Indigenous Peoples' Day as part of a trend to move away from a day honoring Christopher Columbus.  Photo: AP/ Russell Contreras 


From KSTP-TV - October 14, 2019

A handful of states are celebrating their first Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday as part of a trend to move away from a day honoring Christopher Columbus.

From Minnesota to Vermont, at least five states and Washington, D.C., have done away with Columbus Day celebrations in deference to Native Americans, though the federal Columbus Day remains in place.

Minnesota leaders will participate in a variety of events Monday.

At 11 a.m., Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are planning to participate in the Indigenous Peoples Day parade processional from the American Indian Magnet School in St. Paul to Indian Mounds Park.

Then, at 11:30 a.m., Walz will deliver a speech at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law as part of an event sponsored by the Native American Law Student Association. At 12:15 p.m., both Walz and Flanagan will deliver remarks at the Indigenous Peoples Day proclamation presentation at Indian Mounds Park.

Flanagan will then speak at the Canadian Consul General Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration at 4 p.m. at the Minnesota History Center and both Walz and Flanagan will participate in the Third Annual Indigenous Food Tasting at the Minneapolis American Indian Center at 5:30 p.m. 

Since 1992, Native American advocates have pressed states to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day over concerns that Columbus helped launched centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas.

New Mexico is marking its statewide Indigenous Peoples Day with an invocation by several tribal leaders in unison in their native languages. There also will be a parade and traditional dances at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque.

"I think it's great and it's about time," said All Pueblo Council of Governors Chairman E. Paul Torres, a member of Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico.

State offices in Maine also are scheduled to close for the holiday. Maine, home to four federally recognized tribes, ditched Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day with an April bill signing by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.

She said at the time she hoped the move would represent a move "toward healing, toward inclusiveness." Tribes in Maine have had a rocky relationship with the state government over the years, and the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes withdrew representatives to the Legislature in 2015, when Republican Gov. Paul LePage was in office.

The change to Indigenous Peoples Day prompted some backlash in conservative circles and among Italian Americans. University of Maine College Republicans, for example, have described the move as part of a "radical left-wing agenda."

But Native Americans in some states have welcomed the change and said it was time to pay homage to Native Americans instead of Columbus.

Democratic New Mexico state Rep. Derrick Lente of Sandia Pueblo, the sponsor of the New Mexico legislation that changed the holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day, said the day allows reflection on the United States' complicated history. Adopting the holiday, he said, provides some restorative justice for indigenous communities.


To read the original article and see related reporting, follow this link to the KSTP-TV website.  https://kstp.com/national/minnesota-honoring-indigenous-people-instead-of-christopher-columbus/55237...

Boreal Ship Spotter - larger view here