Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu Native American tribe, spoke during Indigenous Solidarity Day on Monday, telling stories and relaying his tribe’s struggles with the federal government.
But the man didn’t know until he got here that Monday was Indigenous Solidarity Day, otherwise known as Columbus Day or Anti-Columbus Day.
To him, it didn’t matter. Franco came hoping to persuade people here to protect water and fight for social justice, he said.
“I’m quite hopeful that this generation will really be able to make a change,” he said.
Monday’s celebrations drew speakers and audiences to the EMU Amphitheater for about 11 hours. Groups circulated petitions, sold T-shirts, played music, displayed art and donned red bandanas to show support for oppressed indigenous people worldwide.
Highlights included a performance by nationally known musician and spoken-word poet John Trudell and a conversation between Trudell and Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation. The two-hour talk drew a nearly full EMU Ballroom crowd.
But the day had different meanings for speakers, organizers and a student participant.
Franco said the day wasn’t about condemning Christopher Columbus. Miners who came west in the mid-1800s and government actions since then have hurt his people, not Columbus.
“I don’t know him; he’s not related to me,” Franco said.
For University sophomore Shalan Ryan, co-director at the Native American Student Union, the event meant showing people that “indigenous peoples aren’t just surviving. We’re thriving.”
The events also showed native people that there are role models for them, she said.
For Ryan, who is one-quarter Santa Clara Pueblo Native American and three-quarters Irish and Italian, the day meant supporting indigenous people, not condemning Columbus.
“It’s a hard issue because I’m mixed. Part of me wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Columbus,” she said. “It’s just a great way for people to come together and a great reason to come together.”
Other people came to the events, sponsored by NASU, the Multicultural Center and the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, to support wiping Columbus Day from the calendar.
“We’re still moving to get that taken off the calendar completely and have Indigenous Solidarity Day replace it,” said Snake Harrington, another NASU co-director.
Harrington, a junior studying environmental science, said he wants to change the holiday to one that has meaning to native people.
Multimedia design major Chris Birke – who didn’t realize it was Columbus Day until he passed an informational table, where he was given a red bandana – likened celebrating Columbus Day to celebrating a “Holocaust Day.”
“I think they have a perfectly legitimate cause that has come to light due to advances in public education,” he said.
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