Indigenous People’s Day

If you are one of those people who roll your eyes when you hear “Indigenous People’s Day,” I have three words for you.

Get over it.

This is not some politically correct trope. This is an honest effort to correct the revisionist history that has allowed us to celebrate Columbus as “discovering America.”  In truth, Columbus discovered nothing. Newsflash: there were already people here. What Columbus did was begin a period of colonization that systematically exterminated hundreds of Native Nations and millions of Native Peoples.

A conservative estimate is that ten million Native Peoples were killed by disease, malnutrition and assaults on local villages.  Make no mistake; disease is a tool of genocide.  When smallpox was running rampant in colonial villages, blankets that belonged to deceased patients were given to Natives to infect them. The remaining villagers were slaughtered in ambushes. For a period of time there was a bounty on the scalps of the Penobscot Nation–30 Pounds for males and 25 for females.

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 expelled five Nations–Cherokee, Chicksaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole–from their land (where colonists wanted to grow cotton) to what is now Oklahoma.  This came to be known as the Trail of Tears.  Over 4,000 people died of cold, hunger and disease.

During the gold rush of 1848, thousands of Native Americans were displaced or died of starvation or disease due to the contamination of their land and water from mining by-products.

After the end of the American Indian wars in the late 1800’s, it is estimated that less than 238,000 Native Americans remained.

The wholesale death of ten million Native Americans is extreme in comparison to recent genocides: 6 million Jews and 800,000 Rwandans. There seems to be no end to the violence human beings do to each other, for no other reason than being different.

Much of the following history has its root in the doctrine of discovery, a concept of public international law expounded by the United States in a series of decisions of the Supreme Court. It is based on various church documents in Christian Europe in the mid 1400’s to justify the pattern of domination and oppression by European colonists.  It theologically asserted the right to claim the indigenous lands, territories and resources on behalf of Christendom. Further, it legalized the subjugation of native peoples around the world. To this day the US courts still claim this precedent to decide property rights cases brought by Native Americans.

In 1900, the Supreme Court voted that the US government had the right to overturn all Cherokee Law.  It is one in a long line of Federal laws and local ordinances that diminished Native Peoples around the country. In 1924 dual citizenship was granted to Native Americans; they were allowed to maintain citizenship in their Native Nation and were declared US citizens. Columbus Day became a Federal Holiday in 1937.  In 1940 the Hoover Commission urged assimilation which further eroded the identity of Native Peoples.  It was not until 1965 that Native Americans gained uniform voting rights. It was not until 1968 that Native Americans were granted free speech, the right to jury and protection from unreasonable search and seizure. It was not until 1978 that the Child Welfare Act was passed. It protected Native parents’ custody of their children.  Despite this law, there is ample evidence that Native Children are still removed from their parents at a higher rate than other children, especially in South Dakota.

Given this horrific history, there is ample reason to stop celebrating the chain of events begun by Columbus and to now lift up the Native Peoples of our nation. The first Indigenous Peoples Day was officially recognized in South Dakota in 1989.  Since then Alaska, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina and Vermont have officially recognized Indigenous People’s Day. One hundred and thirty cities around the country have also changed their celebrations to Indigenous People’s day. Last week, Washington, DC, became the latest in a long line to make the change.

If our federal legislators ever manage to get off their dead asses and actually do something, one thing they should consider is officially changing Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day.

The protestant church is actually leading the way.  The United Church of Christ officially changed its designation of the holiday after their General Synod 29 and has continued to advocate for repudiation of all legislation related to the doctrine of discovery. Other Protestant denominations have, in various ways, followed suit.

A designation of Indigenous People’s Day is a formal repudiation of the colonizing history represented by Columbus.  It affirms the rights and essential human integrity of Native Peoples and their right to live in peace and maintain their tribal identity.  It is one small symbol in a long history of betrayal, broken promises and horrific treatment that may gradually shift the focus from a genocidal, racist, pro-slavery colonizer to a more honest focus on those who have been and continue to be marginalized.

If you roll your eyes when you hear Indigenous People’s Day, get over it.

Click here to see map of Indigenous Nations

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