On Monday, October 10 Cook County celebrated Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day.
The City of Grand Marais also celebrated Indigenous People’s Day, as did Cook County High School (CCHS), with Ojibwe students bringing artifacts and items important to them to help commemorate the day.
East end county commissioner Frank Moe opened the Tuesday, October 11 county board meeting by saying; “I have the great pleasure of reminding everybody that yesterday was Indigenous People’s Day.”
Moe spoke about the important contributions and heritage of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and he noted that it was high school students who brought the request to the county to rename the day.
On September 29, 2015, ten Ojibwe students from CCHS appeared before the Cook County Board of Commissioners to request that Cook County recognize the second Monday in October as Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day. At that time the county recognized August 9 as Indigenous People’s Day.
As the Local Indian Education Committee (LIEC) student representative, Jaden Aubid read a statement on behalf of his classmates, which said in part, that by celebrating Columbus Day, the county was “reinforcing the negative stereotypes of us.” And he called on the board to declare the second Monday in October Indigenous People’s Day.
At that same meeting John Morrin, a member of the Grand Portage Tribal Council, addressed the board with the kids by his side, and he offered further reasons for renaming Columbus Day “Indigenous People’s Day.”
“We’ve always recognized who we were,” said Morrin, “But the lack of truth in that whole holiday denigrates us as sovereign nations. We want to counter the misinformation that the United States of America has always celebrated. Columbus did not discover us we were always here. He did not set foot on the American continent. …. It’s not so much that we would do anything so special, but it (the name change) would counter the lack of truth,” that is taking place today.
“This is just a little step forward here in Cook County that sends a positive message to residents of Cook County that we will no longer celebrate these myths,” Morrin said.
Following those presentations Moe read a resolution to rename Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day. His motion failed 3-2 with he and commissioner Jan Sivertson voting for and commissioners Garry Gamble, Ginny Storlie and Doo-Kirk voting against.
Commissioner Sivertson then asked that Moe’s motion be modified to recognize both Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day, but before Moe read the amended version of the motion, he exclaimed, “There is no greater way for the county board to recognize and respect the people of Grand Portage. They are our brothers. They have asked for us to do this. I respectfully appeal to the county board to pass this motion.”
Sivertson’s motion didn’t pass and it wasn’t until the following week that commissioner Moe reintroduced his original motion and it passed 3-1, with Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk absent and Commissioner Gamble voting against.
While more and more cities and towns across the country are recognizing the second Monday in October as Indigenous People’s Day, Moe said he believes Cook County is not only the first, but also is still the only county in the country to make the change.
Following the October 11 board meeting Moe noted the county now flies the Ojibwe flag on the courthouse lawn. He also thoughtfully reflected back one year, “The kids that came before us really did a good job. It’s important to note that without their input this day would have remained unchanged. I can’t stress enough how important their words were. Their input and the words of my friend John Morrin. I’m really proud of them for their courage to bring this before the board.”
History
While the idea of Indigenous People’s Day was first proposed in 1977 by a delegation of Native nations to the United Nations-sponsored International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas, it didn’t take hold until 1990 following a conference of native peoples who met and announced plans to protest the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival. Berkeley, California, became the first U.S. city to reject Columbus Day in favor Indigenous People’s Day.
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