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Daily Lobo

Kiva Club President Makhpiya Black Elk leads a march to the Occupy Albuquerque camp from the duck pond, closing a day of activities sponsored by UNM’s Native American Studies indigenous research group. The organization hosted Indigenous Day to raise awareness and education on the history of indigenous peoples and their role in today’s society, in protest of Columbus Day.

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Celebrating life before Columbus

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By Chelsea Erven | New Mexico Daily Lobo
By Greer Gessler | New Mexico Daily Lobo
Last updated: 10/11/11 2:22am

The sound of drums echoed across campus Monday as UNM’s Native American Studies Indigenous Research Group celebrated “Indigenous Day.”

NASIRG co-chair and student Alyssa Begay said the group organized Indigenous Day events as an alternative to the nationally recognized Columbus Day.

“Indigenous Day is a protest and alternative to Columbus Day that emphasizes indigenous communities and culture worldwide,” she said.

Indigenous Day events began at 6:30 a.m., and ended at 3:30 p.m. with a ceremony at the duck pond where participating students threw flowers into the pond.

Begay said this year’s events focused on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The U.N. General Assembly resolution adopted the declaration in 2007.

The declaration affirmed equality of indigenous people and dictated “every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality.”

Begay said UNM’s Indigenous Day events urged attendees to use the declaration.

“Today was about how can we incorporate UNDRIP into our communities now,” she said. “Even though it has been in effect since 2007, people aren’t really using it. There is some knowledge of it, but few people want to put that into action.”
Begay said the event didn’t focus on negative aspects of indigenous people’s history, but on moving forward in a positive way.

“We don’t really want to acknowledge that we were victimized — we want to look toward the future and how we can determine ourselves,” she said.

Published October 11, 2011 in News

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6 comments

Luc Mouchet

October 11, 2011 at 10:37 AM
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sounds like the event went great. couldn’t be there because i had midterm papers to finish up. i definitely think that it would be a lot more appropriate to celebrate indigenous americans and the great contributions they’ve made to our country on october 10th instead of cristopher columbus, a man who neither discovered america nor proved the world was round, but simply began a long pattern of european theft and conquest of native peoples and lands. i don’t think this individual deserves any type of homage and i support changing columbus day to a celebration of our nation’s indigenous peoples. and by the way, i am white and there are no shortage of white people who agree with me.

GOTB

October 15, 2011 at 1:06 PM
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test

GOTB

October 15, 2011 at 1:07 PM
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Sounds like a beautiful way to celebrate “the day”. The Vikings went to America prior to Columbus however, Columbus was neither a monster nor a saint. He had some good qualities and some bad ones. He was not a bad or evil man, simply a skilled sailor and navigator who was also an opportunist and a product of his time.

Columbus could sail a ship and in those days it was muchmore dificult and challenging that it is today. He was an effective ship captain. He obviously had some balls- and bravely sailed west without a map, trusting himself and the ability to read the stars and make calculations. He was loyal to the King and Queen of Spain, and they rewarded him by sending him to the New World a total of four times.

Read more …

He had a bad side as well and he took slaves from some of those tribes that he came in conatact with. He seems to have dealt relatively fairly with those tribes that he befriended.

He did some bad things. The Columbus-bashers blame him for some things that were not under his control and ignore some of his most glaring actual defects. He and his crew brought awful diseases, such as smallpox, to which the men and women of the New World had no defenses, and millions died. This is obvious, but it was also unintentional and would have happened eventually anyway. His discovery opened the doors to the conquistadors who looted the mighty Aztec and Inca Empires and slaughtered natives by the thousands, but this, too, could have happened when someone else inevitably discovered the New World.

Slavery was the worst thing about Columbus and he was motivated by profit above all else. I don’t remember Columbus being recognized for proving the world was round- must have missed that part. I would agree that perhaps it’s time to reconsider the columbus day thing- whether or not it should be a day to celebrate native americans is another topic.

samIam

October 15, 2011 at 2:10 PM
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WAY TO GO, Mr. Black Elk!!!
CELEBRATE Life , b/c “WE” are Survivors of the “Manifest Destiny” that took away many Family and Friends from “those” days. Stand Strong TOGETHER.

Damian

October 16, 2011 at 8:27 AM
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Medicine, air conditioning, safe food….sounds like a better deal to me, and I think most Native Americans agree.

GOTB

October 16, 2011 at 8:25 PM
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Disease, giving up land, casino life, highly processed food…… Sounds like a crummy deal to me, and I think most Native Americans agree.

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