Here in South Dakota, Columbus Day's been cancelled as a state holiday since 1990, when a Republican governor working on reconciliation with tribes in the state renamed the holiday Native Americans’ Day.
The Sioux Falls Argus Leader explained in the 2020 article, In South Dakota and 13 other states, it's Native Americans' Day, not Columbus Day:
Why does South Dakota celebrate Native Americans' Day instead of Columbus Day?
Part of it is demographic. Much of the impetus from Columbus Day comes from Italian-Americans, which are not among the biggest ethnic groups in South Dakota. Native Americans are close to 10 percent of South Dakota's population.
It also stems back to a decision by Gov. George Mickelson in the late 1980s to seek "reconciliation" between Natives and whites after historically bad relations. Mickelson asked the Legislature to declare 1990 a "Year of Reconciliation" and to rename Columbus Day as Native Americans' Day. The measure passed unanimously. . .
Minnesota is playing catch-up, although Columbus Day isn't an executive branch holiday, according to state statute. But as Eric Tormoen reported in 2019's Minnesota Rethinks Columbus Day, a change has been underway in cities across the state for years:
In 2016, Gov. Mark Dayton proclaimed Indigenous Peoples Day statewide. (Minnesota has seven Anishinaabe reservations and four Dakota communities.)
On Thursday, Darren Thompson reported in Native News Online's Minnesota Lawmaker Aims to Recognize Indigenous Peoples Day:
Minnesota Representative Heather Keeler (D-Moorhead) filed a bill earlier this week in the Minnesota House of Representatives, asking the state to observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Minnesota observes Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a holiday, but via a proclamation signed by Governor Tim Walz in 2019.
This isn’t the first bill to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the state, however. Unlike the first two tries by Representatives Susan Allen and Jamie Becker-Finn, both Indigenous, Keeler’s version expands state recognition of the holiday to include an educational component.
“This bill is more encompassing because it involves an education component that would require public schools to teach an hour of education on Indigenous issues if schools remain open on Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” said Minnesota Representative Heather Keeler to Native News Online. “Children in Minnesota could be learning about treaty responsibilities, histories of Indigenous sovereign nations, language, culture, and current issues.”
The bill hasn’t been read on the floor yet and still has multiple steps before it becomes a law in the state, but, if passed, the bill would also eliminate Columbus Day in the process.
The observance of Columbus Day began in 1934, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed it a national holiday. In the last few decades, the federal holiday has been protested by many American Indian people and organizations, calling the celebrated “discoverer” a colonizer who brought theft of land, widespread death of Indigenous people and loss of Indigenous ways of life.
South Dakota, in an effort to seek reconciliation between Native and white people in the state, was the first to replace Columbus Day with Native Americans’ Day in 1990. Today, more than 10 states and more than 130 jurisdictions observe Indigenous Peoples Day instead of or in addition to Columbus Day. The ten states that celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an official holiday also include Alabama, Alaska, Hawai’i, Maine, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Vermont. Some of the cities that have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day include Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, Phoenix, and San Francisco.
Rep. Keeler, an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe and Eastern Shoshone, is a first term representative for the Democratic–Farmer–Labor party of the Minnesota House of Representatives from District 4A in Moorhead, Minnesota. Her bill to acknowledge Indigenous Peoples’ Day isn’t her first effort on the issue. In 2019, she spearheaded the movement for the City of Moorhead to officially recognize and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the second Monday of each October.
When asked why it’s important for Minnesota to acknowledge Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day, Keeler said, “Minnesota is 100% treaty land with 11 sovereign nations and Indigenous history is Minnesota history.”
Minnesota State Senator Mary Kunesh, is also introducing similar legislation to the Minnesota State Senate, Keeler said. Kunesh is a descendant of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and is the first Indigenous woman to serve in the Minnesota Senate.
We admire both lawmakers for their prior work on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Relatives issues in Minnesota. As we shared in our November 2021 post, Via Star Tribune op-ed page: update on Minnesota's MMIR (MMIW) Office:
. . . state Sen. Mary Kunesh — with state Rep. Heather Keeler, Yankton Sioux — authored legislation, passed during the 2021 session, to create the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) Office in Minnesota, which is the first of its kind across the 50 states. That office will collaborate with Minnesota state agencies to build accountability in collecting data related to the MMIW injustice, enhancing intergovernmental communication and collaboration, and facilitating resources and services to reduce and prevent violence in Indigenous communities. The MMIR Office will also continue to raise awareness about and address the systemic causes of the MMIW injustice.
The MMIR Office will work in partnership with Operation Lady Justice at the federal level, as well as with neighboring states to share information and strengthen data sharing capabilities nationally. . . .
While South Dakota may have led the nation in celebrating Native Americans' Day/Indigenous People's Day, we've sadly been slacking with the establishment of an office or staff to work on MMIW/R issues, as we reported in South Dakota AG Ravnsborg unable to fund office for missing Indigenous persons.
Related posts:
- Via Star Tribune op-ed page: update on Minnesota's MMIR (MMIW) Office
- Not just a "bargaining chip" for Paul Gazelka, MMIR office finds place in public safety deal
- House Judiciary Finance & Civil Law Committee sends bill for MMIR office to Public Safety
- For National American Indian Heritage Month: Keeler to MnHouse; Kunesh-Podein to MnSenate
Photo: Moorhead DFL state representative Heather Keeler, an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe and Eastern Shoshone. Official photograph, cropped.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments