Some American cities abolish Columbus Day

indigenous day instead of columbusFollowing a growing trend, the city council of Albuquerque, New Mexico has voted six to three to recognize October 12th – typically known to most as “Columbus Day” within the USA– as Indigenous Peoples’ day in a new proclamation. Albuquerque has the highest concentration of Indigenous people in New Mexico.

indigenous womanIn the past two months, eight cities got rid of Columbus Day in favor of adopting Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Three of those cities adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day this week.

Here are the names of those 8 cities:

Albuquerque (New Mexico), Lawrence (KS), Portland (OR), St. Paul (MN), Bexar County (TX), Anadarko (OK), Olympia (WA), Alpena (MI).

These cities are following in the footsteps of Seattle and Minneapolis.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City came close to passing it in September and will try to pass it again on October 13th, the day after the holiday.

Indigenous-Peoples-Day-bannerThis name change is a fantastic trend that needs to grow fast, but it needs to be followed up by concrete action and legislation. Nationwide (and worldwide – particularly in Latin American countries that have suffered from US-backed coups), indigenous people suffer from economic inequality, health problems, and human rights abuses. It’s time we celebrate their culture and tradition rather than their oppressors’, and it’s time we give back to those we’ve taken so much from.

From Dylan Sevett, US-Uncut.

Native American women fighting for their culture

“Native Americans represent just one per cent of the US population and some languages have only one speaker left. Now a new generation is fighting to preserve the culture.” In an excellent piece in Marie Claire magazine, you can meet a few of the women leading that fight, including 22-year-old Sage Honga, pictured here, who wants to encourage young people to leave the reservation, get an education, and then return home to make a difference in the community: “My tribe, the Hualapai people, is so small that I want to be a role model to show my community and youth that it is possible to come off our land and do big things.”

Another woman featured, 30-year-old Evereta Thinn, a member of the Diné or Navajo tribe, aspires to open a language and cultural immersion school for young people. She explains, “Knowing who you are as a Native, know the teachings from your elders and engraining them as you go out into the modern world is how you maintain that balance… once the language fades, the culture will slowly start to go too. If the younger generations cannot speak the language, how will they be equipped to make decisions on policies and protect our tribes in the future?”

You can read more about Sage, Evereta, and other Native American women fighting to preserve their culture on Marie Claire here.

Native Americans want a mascot to be changed

There is an American football team which call themselves the “Redskins”. Many people think this is an offensive name for American Indians and they want this team to change their name. This ad was made to ask for a change to be made, but the NFL (American National Football League) refused to show it during the Superbowl.

Proud To Be – YouTube.