NEWS
BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
NATIVE YOUTH TESTIFY
FOR INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES’ DAY OUTSIDE
SPRINGFIELD CITY HALL
PHOTO: PHIL CARRASCO
ACTIVISTS AND YOUTH PUSH FOR
SPRINGFIELD TO RECOGNIZE
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY
A
cross most of the country, Oct. 10 is Columbus
Day — celebrating Christopher Columbus’ “dis-
covery” of America. But in Eugene and some
other cities, including Seattle and Berkeley, we
now celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
There is currently a push for Springfield to recognize
the holiday, which turns what was a celebration of colo-
nialism into a chance to celebrate indigenous resistance, to
explore how indigenous peoples in the Americas have been
oppressed and wiped out, and to organize against current
injustices.
In March 2016, the Eugene City Council passed a reso-
lution recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Although Co-
lumbus Day is a federal holiday, neither Eugene nor Spring-
field officially recognizes it as a holiday, the cities say.
Phil Carrasco, co-founder of Grupo Latino de Acción
Directa and at the time a Eugene Human Rights commis-
sioner, says the push for city recognition of Indigenous
Peoples’ Day comes from a long-term goal of going to 4J,
Bethel and Springfield school districts “and making a case
for bringing in indigenous education, not just Eurocentric
education.”
The goal, Carrasco says, is to “shift the power dynamic,
celebrate ourselves, celebrate our ancestors” and he says to
recognize and celebrate indigenous peoples who are both
from federally recognized tribes and from places like Oax-
aca who are “just as indigenous, but divided by a European
border.”
Indigenous Peoples’ Day, he continues, is a “good and
symbolic way to start reconquering our own story, because
we are conquered people, and take that narrative and move
forward.”
After their success in Eugene, Carrasco and indigenous
activists Ada Ball and Leilani Sabzalian shifted their focus
to Springfield. Ball and Sabzalian brought 30 or so youth
from Springfield’s Chifin Native Youth Center to the Sept.
20 Springfield City Council meeting to testify in favor of
Indigenous Peoples’ Day. However, a public hearing was
not scheduled, according to Springfield Public Relations
Manager Niel Laudati, and only 20 minutes was available
for testimony.
Only three or four of the high school students were al-
lowed to speak, Ball tells EW. “We had built up the event
as leadership and self-advocacy” and, she says, it was a
school night, leaving the students initially disappointed af-
ter all their work and effort preparing their statements. But
the group went outside and the youth were able to testify
via Livestream (see the video at eugeneweekly.com).
“That was really beautiful,” Ball says.
Ball says that Springfield’s Committee for Diversity
and Inclusion is now handling the proposal for Indigenous
Peoples’ Day. Laudati says the committee is working to
“set-up a meeting so we can move forward with a recom-
mendation to council.” He says the meeting will be fol-
lowed by a week of discussion.
“Initially we were frustrated,” Ball says, but now “we
need to take advantage of this process and really talk about
it and end up with a stronger proposal.”
When asked if she thinks Springfield might vote on
the proposal before the Oct. 10 date, Ball replies, “I really
hope so. I have blind optimism.”
She says the organizers plan to go to the next Spring-
field City Council meeting on Oct. 3 to advocate again.
Ball also encourages people to attend the Oct. 10 In-
digenous Peoples’ Day Celebration at the University of
Oregon, which is combined with the Native American
Student Union’s annual Indigenous Solidarity Day at the
EMU amphitheater. For more on that event, go to the UO’s
Annual Indigenous People’s Day Celebration event page
on Facebook.
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