@jeanne-mayell. In honor of your town’s great victory, I would like to post this picture of a Wampanoag woman at Plimoth Plantation that I took a few years ago on Thanksgiving Day. (It won’t let me, the file is too big.) She told us stories of her people and of life close to the English colony there. I’m so very glad that honor and decency won the day in your town.
I wonder what the name of the Wampanoag woman is. If she’s older, there’s a decent chance I know her.
@coyote. She was probably in her 30’s. There were several other ladies working with her but I don’t remember them as well.
darn, I spent a great deal of time writing a response to @lovendures and then took out everything to do with my wife's nations language, natural law, how it all tied together - it fascinates me.
It made sense to me as I was writing it, but before I posted it, I pulled it because it didn't follow the thread quite so well. Maybe that part was supposed to be here :) but I got so involved I missed the obvious.
@jeanne-mayell I am glad the vote went as it did.
For anyone who wants to know more about how Columbus Day came to be in the first place, and why some Americans still hold it so dear, here is an article that sheds some light. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/christopher-columbus-racism/ .
Warning: If you are passionate about holding on to Columbus Day, you won't like this article.
The gist is that in spite of the historical record showing Christopher Columbus was a bad guy, Columbus Day was a way for Italian Americans, discriminated against during the early 20th century, to claim that their culture had a sacred role in discovering America. In 2021 America, Italian Americans no longer need Columbus. They have now made it into the highest ranks of whiteness.
Still some Italian Americans will fiercely defend Columbus Day.
It is perhaps safe to assume that most of the Italian Americans who so idolized Columbus in those early decades only knew the mythologized character...But today, the history is well-established. Any ignorance that Columbus massacred, tortured, enslaved, and traded Indigenous American and African people is willful. by Chris Gelardi, The Nation. To read on: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/christopher-columbus-racism/ .
@jeanne-mayell I hold no affection for Columbus and I wholeheartedly agree that he should not be celebrated, and that replacing "his" day with a day honoring indigenous people is absolutely right and just and overdue.
I do have a Libra-type thing nagging at me and I'm going to risk putting it out there.
I have read that some people would prefer to replace Columbus day with a generalized "Immigrants Day". While I think it would be inappropriate (kind of like twisting the knife) to schedule this on the former Columbus day (and I think indigenous people ought to have their own day) I was thinking maybe having an "Immigrant's Day" at some other time of the year is not a bad idea. All of us in the Americas (except the native peoples) have ancestors who came from elsewhere within the last millenium (I'm lumping the Norse in there). Not only could we celebrate recent immigrants, but also remind people who've been here since the 1600's that they are from immigrants, too. Might it be a way to celebrate the commonalities between Mayflower descendants and recent Latin American and Asian immigrants, and thereby encourage unity while we all learn about one another?
I was thinking maybe having an "Immigrant's Day" at some other time of the year is not a bad idea. All of us in the Americas (except the native peoples) have ancestors who came from elsewhere within the last millenium (I'm lumping the Norse in there). Not only could we celebrate recent immigrants, but also remind people who've been here since the 1600's that they are from immigrants, too. Might it be a way to celebrate the commonalities between Mayflower descendants and recent Latin American and Asian immigrants, and thereby encourage unity while we all learn about one another?
I love that idea! Immigrant's Day.
I wonder what the name of the Wampanoag woman is. If she’s older, there’s a decent chance I know her.
One of the most active members of our group is a young Wampanoag named Keisha James whose grandfather Wamsutta Frank James, led the Native American movement to call Thanksgiving a National Day of Mourning. Keisha and her mother have attended our meetings. You might know her mother. Keisha is a Wellesley College student and has been quite vocal. There is another Native person but she's not a public figure, like Keisha, so I can't name her here.
Last night my town completed the final stages of my group's quest to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. Up until now, both our Town Meeting election, and our town referendum (town wide election) results had been by law non binding.
Last night was the final vote of a five member board. I showed up and spoke, along with two colleagues, to urge the Board to carry out the will of the people and vote to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.
I had urged my other colleagues to show up lest the meeting be overrun by adversaries, but our leader, a soft and trusting person, was just so sure that it wasn't necessary.
Well, it turned out to be a painful bitter night in which only three of us proponents spoke and the Select Board was besieged by a large number of bitter, angry, pleading, attacking pro-Columbus advocates. They did not care about democracy or the town votes, but only about their cause. For them, democracy does not matter if they don't win. Sound familiar? But still I felt their pain and I want to acknowledge that.
But the Select Board, all people I know -- the wonder of small town politics-- went ahead and voted the change to Indigenous People's Day.
I lay in bed this morning wondering why I am so passionate about swapping Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples Day. I'm not Native American but this has been so important to me. My head turned to the window and I stared out at the woods behind the house. I saw them in my mind's eye, Native people, walking among the trees, fishing and hunting. It's about the land and the truth of that land and how they were here for 10,000 years and how they loved it.