State of Minnesota Proclamation signed March 4

WHEREAS- The State of Minnesota is located on ancestral and contemporary lands that have been called home by the Anishinaabe and the Dakota people since time immemorial; and Minnesota includes a vibrant and diverse American Indian community comprised of eleven sovereign Tribal Nations, as well as robust urban American Indian communities that include tribal affiliations from across the country; and

WHEREAS: The Constitution of the United States of America mandates that a population count will be conducted at least once every ten years; and

WHEREAS: Many government agencies utilize U.S. Census data in funding appropriations and making funding decisions; and

WHEREAS: Ensuring an accurate and complete count of American Indian individuals, living on and off tribal reservation lands, is critical for securing appropriate federal, state, and other funding and resources; and

WHEREAS: The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council proclaimed March 21, 2020, as Census Pow Wow Day, which will be celebrated by American Indian communities throughout the State of Minnesota to kick off the 2020 U.S. Census complete count of American Indians; and

WHEREAS: These festivities will be a celebration of American Indian culture and sovereignty in an effort to Indigenize the Census together throughout the state of Minnesota, and U.S. Census Takers will be on-site to begin the count for 2020; and

WHEREAS: This historic event is the brainchild of Anjeni Del Real, a Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe and Blackfeet-Sioux student from the Haskell Indian Nations University, whom we want to honor and raise up as an example to youth that ideas can become reality with community backing.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, TIM WALZ, Governor of Minnesota, do hereby proclaim Saturday, March 21, 2020, as:

CENSUS POW WOW DAY