BY NATASHA BRENNAN | UPDATED OCTOBER 08, 2021 4:05 PM
President Joe Biden signed the first-ever proclamation declaring Oct. 11 as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the United States on Friday, Oct. 8. Between 40 and 50 Tribal leaders were present at the signing. “Since time immemorial, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians have built vibrant and diverse cultures — safeguarding land, language, spirit, knowledge, and tradition across the generations. On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, our Nation celebrates the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples, recognizes their inherent sovereignty, and commits to honoring the Federal Government’s trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations,” the proclamation read. The President signed an additional proclamation acknowledging the painful history of Columbus Day, which Indigenous communities have led in replacing with Indigenous Peoples Day to instead recognize the genocide of Native peoples and celebrate their diverse histories and cultures. “Today, millions of Italian Americans continue to enrich our country’s traditions and culture and make lasting contributions to our Nation… we also acknowledge the painful history of wrongs and atrocities that many European explorers inflicted on Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities. It is a measure of our greatness as a Nation that we do not seek to bury these shameful episodes of our past — that we face them honestly, we bring them to the light, and we do all we can to address them,” Biden said in his proclamation. The presidential action follows Biden’s signing of three proclamations restoring protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments that were significantly cut back during the Trump administration. The signing is part of key promises from the administration to protect the country’s natural and cultural resources.
Indigenous leaders called for Biden to protect Bears Ears and other sacred sites from fossil fuel extraction with the Red Road to D.C. totem pole journey led by Lummi Nation House of Tears Carvers in July. At a news conference announcing the public lands proclamations, Brenda Mallory, the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the protection of these sites kept a “simple but sacred promise.” “In America, when we protect a place as a national monument, it is to be protected for all time for all people,” Mallory said. Mallory met with Washington state Tribal leaders earlier this week in her first round-table discussions with Tribal leaders as chair. The meetings addressed the President’s plan for climate action, federal investment and the bipartisan infrastructure bill ahead of two upcoming meetings with the council and Tribal leaders.
Read more at:https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/state/washington/article254866777.html
