Goodbye, Columbus!

Posted by Colleen Keane | Oct 15, 2015 | News |

ABQ debuts Indigenous People’s Day

ALBUQUERQUE

Navajo Times/ Donovan Quintero
Kailani Campbell from Shiprock holds her rally sign Monday at the first-ever Indigenous Peoples Day in Albuquerque.

In one of the largest turnouts the city has ever seen, more than a thousand people took to the streets Monday to celebrate the first Indigenous Peoples’ Day and to protest past and present atrocities of colonization.

Standing in solidarity, the celebration engaged tribes across the state and country, members of the Red Nation, Palestinian, African-American, Chicano human rights movements, along with students from organizations like the UNM’s Kiva Club and the National Coalition against Racism in Sports.

Beginning the celebration, respected Dine elder Larry Foster gave a blessing to the people who stood shoulder to shoulder at the corner of 1st and Central Avenues before the march and rally began.

Then, walking slowly to the beat of drums, marchers, who included youth, parents carrying children and elders in wheelchairs, cried out as they circled several downtown blocks near civic plaza, “What do we want? Native rights! When do we want it? Now!”

Their voices and the sound of drum beats resonated for blocks around as they protested the genocidal legacy of Christopher Columbus that spokespeople said expresses itself daily in police brutality, abuse of women, poverty, violence against homeless people and stereotypic symbols and mascots.

The new day was created through a city ordinance sponsored by City Councilor Rey Garduno (Dist. 6) that abolished Columbus Day, historically recognized on the second Monday of October, replacing it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day of Resistance & Resilience.

Speaking to the people, Garduno expressed camaraderie and compassion in struggles for pay equality, public safety and human rights.