Monday Open Thread | Happy Indigenous People Day

Posted on October 12, 2015 by SouthernGirl2

Indigenous People DayWhat’s in a name? A lot, say eight cities changing “Columbus Day” to “Indigenous People’s Day” in the past two months.

For decades, Native Americans have urged states that celebrate the federal holiday to reconsider honoring a man many historians accuse of opening the Americas to enslavement, genocide, and cultural destruction – and “finding” the wrong continent, to boot. (The Italian explorer was convinced he’d reached Asia.)

South Dakota and Berkeley, Calif., were among the first to pay attention, choosing to use the second Monday in October to honor the New World’s first inhabitants instead of its 15th century newcomers. Berkeley’s decision went into effect in 1992, marking the 500th anniversary of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria’s fabled ocean voyage.

But further protests seemed to fall on deaf ears, until a sudden wave of Columbus cancellations in the past two years: 10 more cities have joined the list, from Albuquerque to Seattle to St. Paul. This new wave may represent a broader shift in how Americans view Native American rights, or at least the growing local political influence of indigenous groups.

According to the Albequerque City Council’s Proclamation, Indigenous Peoples Day is meant to honor the “indigenous nations [who] have lived upon this land since time immemorial” and show respect for “American Indian thought, culture, and technology.”

Although debates rage on about exactly how much damage Europeans inflicted on Native populations immediately after their arrival, some estimate that up to 90 percent of the continent’s first inhabitants died from warfare, enslavement, or diseases, violence which carried into the American government’s discriminatory policies through the 19th and early 20th century, and are still felt today, when 25 percent live in poverty, versus the US average of 15 percent.

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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76 Responses to Monday Open Thread | Happy Indigenous People Day

    • rikyrah says:
      October 12, 2015 at 9:59 pm

      Hackney: The shattered dreams of two girls
      Suzette Hackney, suzette.hackney@indystar.com 3:29 p.m. EDT October 11, 2015

      I try to remain upbeat in the face of adversity. Work harder, I say. Dig deeper. Believe that even if we don’t have the ability to change a situation, we have the strength to push on and eventually make life better.

      Don’t quit, is my mantra.

      Yet news of the fatal shooting of two teen girls on the city’s Westside on Sunday took all the fight out of me, particularly after I learned more about them. These young ladies didn’t have the best of life’s luxuries, but they were working to better themselves. They wanted to be somebody — women who could hold their heads high.

      Instead, they’re gone. Best friends robbed of any chance of fulfilling their dreams.

      Just a week before they were gunned down, Coriana Johnson, 17, and Makayla Mitchell, 18, served as chaperons for seven young girls who attended the Circle City Classic as part of a mentoring outing. As chaperons Coriana and Makayla were attentive and supportive, explaining the game of football to the girls and accompanying them on bathroom breaks and to get snacks.

      See, Coriana and Makayla weren’t self-absorbed teens; they were sharing their time and life experiences with younger girls who needed role models through a program called G.L.A.M. (Guidance, Life-Skills and Mentoring). The organization is dedicated to empowering young women to overcome adversity and achieve their highest potential.

      In fact, Coriana was what the executive director considered the heart of the organization. Coriana had been involved with the group since its non-profit incorporation in 2008. She helped recruit girls, ages 9 to 18, who needed a boost or a big-sister figure to encourage character development, leadership skills and academic success.

      Coriana and Makayla refused to sit on the sidelines of life, to be victims of their circumstances. They were fighting to have lives of value and meaning. They appeared to be doing all the right things. They were trying.

      http://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/columnists/suzette-hackney/2015/10/09/hackney-shattered-dreams-two-girls/73772770/?hootPostID=be2fcbad226252904260f08a450ebd23

      Reply
  11. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    October 12, 2015 at 7:06 pm

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRJ2pDKUcAAMWbQ.jpg
    Keegan Stephan ‏@KeeganNYC 2m2 minutes ago
    #PeoplesMonday has taken the streets for #SarahLeeCircleBear & all natives killed by state violence. #ColumbusDay
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRJ4TrDWoAAPW8f.jpg

    Reply
  13. Liza says:
    October 12, 2015 at 5:28 pm

    People in Cleveland tell me they are seeing police training for what they think are preparations for riots or large-scale protests.— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 12, 2015

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Reply
  20. Ametia says:
    October 12, 2015 at 3:42 pm

    After all it’s entirely “RESOANBLE’ to gun down and kill 12 old Tamir Rice who was holding a toy gun!

    The Minnesota dentist who killed Cecil the Lion won’t be charged with a crime, Zimbabwean officials said Monday. Walter Palmer’s “papers were in order,” the country’s environment minister said. Palmer’s guide and the land owner from where the lion was killed have both been charged.

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 2:48 pm

    7 Things White People Definitely Didn’t Discover But Get Credit for Anyway
    Zak Cheney-Rice’s avatar image By Zak Cheney-Rice October 09, 2014 LIKE MIC ON FACEBOOK:
    Christopher Columbus: Adventurer. Explorer. Holiday namesake. White guy.

    Since 1937, Americans and calendar-makers have hailed the mix of sea adventure and genocide that make up this man’s accomplishments. Despite all manner of protests, we still celebrate that fateful day in 1492 when Columbus “discovered” a body of land already occupied by millions of people and promptly initiated their destruction.

    http://mic.com/articles/100840/7-things-white-people-also-didn-t-discover-but-get-credit-for-anyway-nbsp?utm_source=policymicFB&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social

    Reply
  31. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    Columbus’s Real Legacy: The Brutal Disparities Suffered By Native Americans

    Every year, many schools and businesses across the country close on the second Monday in October to celebrate the Italian Christopher Columbus’s arrival in what are now called the Americas on October 12, 1942, or the “discovery” of America. Of course, Native Americans were already here. And Columbus, while remembered as a hero by many, was brutal to the native people. In his quest to find gold, he enslaved them, working thousands to death; brutalized them; and murdered them.

    The native population was nearly wiped out. In A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn writes, “In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.” Columbus’s efforts amounted to genocide. Native people “were worked at a ferocious pace, and died by the thousands,” Zinn writes. “By the year 1515, there were perhaps fifty thousand Indians left. By 1550, there were five hundred. A report of the year 1650 shows none of the original Arawaks [on the Bahamas] or their descendants left on the island.”

    Native Americans in what is now the United States would continue to be killed by later settlers in enormous numbers, have their land stolen by the government, and see their rights trampled on. This is Columbus’s legacy, and the effects of his violent campaign and the decades of oppression afterward can still be seen today in the huge disparities between the Native American population and the population in general.

    Poverty and employment

    In 2012, one in four American Indians and Alaska Natives lived in poverty, compared to a national rate of 14.5 percent. For those who identify these groups as their only race, their poverty rate was just over 29 percent. Poverty rates are even higher on big Indian reservations: Among the top ten largest, rates range from 20.2 percent for individuals to as much as 53.5 percent. And extreme poverty on these reservations is, on average, four times as high as the national rate.

    On top of these high poverty rates, Native Americans experience far higher unemployment rates. The unemployment situation right now is four times worse among the Native American population than it was for the entire country during the recession. The employment rate for the native population in its prime working ages was less than 65 percent between 2009 and 2011, 13.4 points lower than for white workers. During the same time, the Native American unemployment rate averaged 14.6 percent, nearly 7 points higher than the 7.7 percent rate for white workers. Things have been bad for a while: Native Americans have suffered double-digit unemployment rates ever since 2008, with a current rate around 11 percent, compared to a national rate under 6 percent.

    Education

    The achievement gap between students of color and white students has been steadily closing, but not for Native students. Native Americans, including American Indians and Alaska Natives, have seen their gaps widen. In 2011, 18 percent of Native fourth graders were proficient or advanced in reading on the National Assessment of Education Progress, compared to 42 percent of white fourth grades, a gap that has stayed flat since 2005. Just 17 percent of Native eighth graders scored at those levels in math, compared to 43 percent of white ones. Other racial groups saw improvements during that time that far outpaced Native students.

    http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/10/13/3579247/columbus-day-native-americans/

    Reply
  32. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 2:46 pm

    Igor BobicVerified account ‏@igorbobic 9m9 minutes ago
    Cheers in the audience after a woman asked Donald Trump about his “divisive” language on the campaign trail.
    Trump: “I want to Ivy league schools, I know what’s divisive and what’s not divisive.”
    Woman: “I went to Harvard.”

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 2:33 pm

    Relatives of Black Man Shot by Off-Duty Officer in Texas Question Police Actions
    OCT. 11, 2015

    HOUSTON — For 15 minutes, a man shot by an off-duty officer here lay bleeding from two gunshots in his abdomen as the responding officers stood by without providing first aid. At one point, as the victim, a 53-year-old black man, raised his head, an officer used his foot to keep the man’s face on the pavement, according to a dashboard camera video supplied to The New York Times recently by the man’s relatives.

    From the time the episode was first reported, at 2:17 a.m. on July 9, 2014, and including the time the man, Charles K. Goodridge, lay unaided on the ground, it took more than an hour for him to arrive at an emergency room. An hour after his arrival at the hospital in an ambulance, he was dead.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/12/us/charles-goodridge-police-shooting-houston-texas.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

    Reply
  35. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 2:28 pm

    Check Out the Character Posters for WGN’s Upcoming Underground Railroad Drama
    By Tambay A. Obenson|Shadow and Act
    October 11, 2015 at 10:26AM

    …Hailing from creators Misha Green (“Sons of Anarchy,” “Heroes”) and Joe Pokaski (“Daredevil,” “Heroes”), and executive producer John Legend, “Underground,” set in 1857, follows a courageous 25-year-old
    slave named Noah who organizes a small group of fellow slaves on Macon Plantation, with the goal of escaping to the Underground Railroad and to freedom. The odds of success are slim; the plantation’s terrain is unforgiving, and their politically ambitious owner, Tom Macon, will surely kill anyone attempting to run. For those who make it off the plantation, the risks and uncertainties only multiply. Pursued by professional slave hunters, they will have to decide which way to turn and whether or not they can trust the strangers who offer them help.

    Playing Noah is Aldis Hodge, who is described as a brave, driven and insanely clever field slave. And on the other side of the fight is Reed Diamond, who plays Tom Macon, the plantation owner and political candidate.

    Joining both gentlemen are: Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Rosalee, a shy house slave with a powerful inner strength and courage; Christopher Meloni is August Pullman, a mysterious figure who walks a tightrope between morality and survival; Jessica de Gouw is Elizabeth Hawkes, a socialite who shares her husband’s abolitionist ideals; Alano Miller plays Cato, a cunning, charismatic man despised and feared by his fellow slaves; Adina Porter plays Pearly Mae, a strong-willed wife and mother; Amirah Vann is Ernestine, a fiercely devoted mother and head house slave; Marc Blucas is John Hawkes, a lawyer whose ideals clash with the legislation he’s sworn to uphold; Mykelti Williamson plays Moses, a fiery preacher;; and finally Johnny Ray Gil as Sam, Rosalee’s brother and a talented carpenter.

    http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/check-out-the-character-posters-for-wgns-upcoming-underground-railroad-drama-20151011

    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    Julian Assange: London police take 24-hour guard off Ecuadorian Embassy

    Scotland Yard has announced it will end its 24-hour guard of WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy
    because it is no longer “proportionate.”

    The Metropolitan Police will instead deploy “overt and covert tactics” to arrest the Australian citizen.

    Police insist they are still committed to arresting Assange under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued in December 2010, which seeks his extradition to Sweden to answer allegations of rape.

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) confirmed on Monday it had summoned Ecuadorian Ambassador Carlos Abad Ortiz to “register once again our deep frustration at the protracted delay” in extraditing Assange to Sweden.

    The WikiLeaks chief has been living at the Ecuadorian Embassy since June 2012, when he was granted political asylum by the government of Ecuador.

    Assange believes if he is deported to Sweden he will faces espionage charges in America over his role in publishing sensitive classified US government documents.

    Two out of the four sex crime allegations against him expired in August, leaving one allegation of rape.

    https://www.rt.com/uk/318374-julian-assange-embassy-guard/

    Reply
  43. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 2:20 pm

    Because Muslims are making up the discrimination that they experience.

    GET.DA.PHUQ.OUTTA.HERE.

    https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa/status/653614203354415104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      October 12, 2015 at 11:53 am

      Only the most wicked and evil person would deny healthcare to people. Seriously, what separates these loathsome sacks of sh!t from a thug who would hit you over the head in a dark alley to steal your money. What separates them? A suit and tie?

      Reply
  51. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 9:02 am

    DALAYYYY @TheToast2015
    Raven Symone claims she wasn’t talking about a particular race, but chose names associated with a particular race. #hmm

    DALAYYYY @TheToast2015
    She didn’t say she wouldn’t discriminate against Marisol or Chucho. She didn’t say she wouldn’t discriminate against Wang Chung or Ming Lo.

    DALAYYYY @TheToast2015
    She specifically said “Watermelonadrea” and “Africanisha.” Now would Hispanics or Asians be naming their children “Africanisha?”

    Reply
  52. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 8:57 am

    Prairie View councilman tased, arrested by police

    A Prairie View city council member was arrested Thursday night after a confrontation with police that ended with him being tazed. Councilman Jonathan Miller had friends in town for homecoming weekend and they were hanging out outside his home.

    October 10, 2015

    PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — A Prairie View city council member was arrested and tased outside his house Thursday night. He spent the night in jail and later had to be checked out at the hospital.

    KHOU11 News spoke to Councilman Jonathan Miller when he got out of the hospital. He’s still processing all that happened.

    “Do you think at any point you did anything that could be seen as resisting arrest?” KHOU 11 News reporter Alice Barr asked Miller.

    “I don’t feel so,” Miller said. “Of course, everybody has a side to this story but I don’t feel so.”

    Miller says he was hanging out with fraternity brothers at home, when three of them went outside to practice a step routine for homecoming. They say they were changing their shoes near one of their cars when police pulled up.

    “She’s like, ‘What are you guys doing?’” said Miller’s friend Alaric Jones. “We’re like, ‘Nothing. Gonna practice some steps.’ And she said, ‘No it looks like you guys are doing some drug-related stuff because this is a high-drug area, high crime area also.’”

    A Prairie View city council member was arrested and tazed outside his house Thursday night. He spent the night in jail and later had to be checked out at the hospital. (Photo: KHOU 11 NEWS)

    Miller came out to check on his friends and police say he started interfering with their investigation. They said he wouldn’t back away or stop asking questions.

    “The officers have a reasonable expectation to ask someone to step away from the scene, to give them a reasonable safety zone to conduct the investigation, and when they’re done, then they can address their concerns,” said Prairie View Police Chief Larry Johnson.

    “It went from me asking questions, to me basically being put face down on the ground,” Miller said. I’m curious to have a conversation with those officers.”

    Once Miller was on the ground, police say he wrestled with the male officer.

    “That’s not true. That’s not true,” said Miller’s friend Brandon Wilson. “The only wrestling was when he [the officer] slammed him on the ground. He got him on the ground so easily, he’s only 130 pounds.

    http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/2015/10/09/prairie-view-councilman-tazed-arrested-by-police/73666742/

    Reply
  53. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 8:46 am

    water is wet news

    How Hillary Clinton panders

    By Stephen Stromberg October 11 at 2:41 PM

    Another week, another cave from Hillary Clinton. The Democratic front-runner came out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal last week, a pact she pushed for when she was secretary of state. The question is not whether she’s pandering but how negative the real-world consequences of her pandering will be.

    Clinton seems keenly sensitive to that question. She has been carefully calibrating her pandering, keeping her options open and the stakes as low as possible — and often without granting that activists’ ideas even make sense. Because they often don’t, and she almost certainly knows that.

    The TPP is only the latest example. Though Clinton talked up the treaty when she ran the State Department, she announced last week that the agreement doesn’t meet the “high bar I have set” for trade deals. Yet the TPP may well be off the docket by January 2017, when she would be inaugurated if elected president. Even if it’s not, she hasn’t adopted the anti-trade hyperbole of others in the race. This leaves her rhetorical space to favor a “modified” TPP or other future trade deals that, she can argue, do meet her standards. Moreover, she put off announcing her opposition until after Congress voted to give President Obama fast-track trade authority, reducing the likelihood that what she says will make any difference to the treaty’s final outcome.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/10/11/how-hillary-clinton-panders/?tid=pm_opinions_pop_b

    Reply
  54. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 8:44 am

    he knew they were crazy all along

    ……………..

    How Kevin McCarthy predicted his own demise

    By E.J. Dionne Jr. Opinion writer October 11 at 7:41 PM

    One group was not surprised by the collapse of Kevin McCarthy’s campaign for speaker: the ultraconservatives inside and outside the House who have made clear since the rise of the tea party that they have no use for politics as usual.

    They have always been upfront: Anyone who believes that President Obama poses a grave threat to our constitutional rights — and that Republican leaders have sold out conservative principles for decades — has no choice but to throw sand into the gears of government. For them, governing with Obama means furthering the collapse of the republic.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-kevin-mccarthy-predicted-his-own-demise/2015/10/11/0b1a6312-6eb0-11e5-9bfe-e59f5e244f92_story.html

    Reply
    • yahtzeebutterfly says:
      October 12, 2015 at 8:56 am

      https://youtu.be/iNq7Tu7gUrA&rel=0
      Published on Jun 3, 2013
      Journalist and writer Laura Waterman Wittstock and photographer Dick Bancroft have recorded, written and taken pictures of the American Indian Movement (AIM) for over 40 years.

      Their book, We Are Still Here published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, is a testament to that effort. It includes Wittstock’s reflections on covering the native American civil rights movement as a young reporter in Washington, D.C., as well as some of Bancroft’s striking and iconic images as the movement struggled for Native independence.

      An exhibit of Bancroft’s photos opened May 10 at All My Relations Gallery on Franklin Avenue, celebrated by drummers performing the AIM honor song, traditional foods and a gathering of AIM activists, including Clyde Bellecourt and Bill Means. Bellecourt, a member of the White Earth band of Ojibwe, reminded the crowd what it took for them to get to this place.

      “Our people were so beaten down,” he shouted to the crowd, “We didn’t think we could pull ourselves up,” he said as he went on to tell people how AIM began as a group of people meeting on the Northside of Minneapolis. After years of enduring poverty and abuse from police, the Indian activists decided to take matters into their own hands. It wasn’t just about better living conditions for Native Americans on and off the reservation, but about reviving their culture and demanding the federal government honor its treaties and show native nations the respect they deserved.

      In 1972, Bellecourt and others traveled to Washington in a protest called The Trail of Broken Treaties to demand the federal government remove officials running the Bureau of Indian Affairs who AIM accused of being corrupt and greedy. That’s where the photos of Bancroft’s and the words of Waterman Wittstock come into play.

      Reply
      • TyrenM says:
        October 12, 2015 at 12:33 pm

        Good Morning Yahtzee and 3Chics,
        Clyde Bellecourt is no joke. I’ve met him twice. Once at a pow-wow. The other at a protest at a medical facility in S. Minneapolis. Unlike some AA “activists” who will sell us out for 2 pieces and a biscuit, he’s still all in all these years later. Mad respect for him.

        Have a good day all.

        Reply
      • yahtzeebutterfly says:
        October 12, 2015 at 1:25 pm

        Thanks for commenting about Clyde Bellecouret, Tyren.

        Enjoy the day!

        Reply
  56. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    October 12, 2015 at 8:33 am

    https://youtu.be/ut5UakPc5MM&rel=0
    Published on Sep 6, 2013
    Narrated by Graham Greene, with the voices of Tantoo Cardinal and Q’orianka Kilcher, the “Standing on Sacred Ground” series exposes threats to native peoples’ health, livelihood, and cultural survival in eight communities around the world. Rare verité scenes of tribal life allow indigenous people to tell their own stories—and confront us with the ethical consequences of our culture of consumption.

    https://youtu.be/E1qij-yhw94&rel=0
    Published on Jul 1, 2012
    “Mountain Song – Sacred Ground – A Tribute to Mother Earth”
    Video speaks to respect for Mother Earth and particularly Native Women

    Reply
  57. rikyrah says:
    October 12, 2015 at 8:33 am

    Good Morning Everyone :)

    Reply
  58. Ametia says:
    October 12, 2015 at 7:35 am

    Happy Indigenous People Day!

    Reply
  66. SouthernGirl2 says:
    October 12, 2015 at 1:35 am

    Good morning, everyone!

    Happy Indigenous People Day. Columbus Day, my arse!

    Reply

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