|
COAIM BLOG
(latest news,
updates, opinions,
etc.)
COAIM HOME
CO AIM
principles
councils
history
photos
in the media
LATEST NEWS
community
upcoming events
urgent issues
MEDIA
alternative
indigenous
mainstream
RESOURCES
educational
legal
perspectives
links
STRUGGLES
native struggles
| |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT (AIM) OF COLORADO TO PROTEST PARADE HONORING COLUMBUS
AIM CALLS FOR ABOLITION OF COLUMBUS DAY AS NATIONAL
AND STATE HOLIDAY - DEMANDS REMOVAL OF COLUMBUS STATUE FROM DENVER"S CIVIC
CENTER PARK
The American Indian Movement (AIM) of Colorado has
announced plans to stage a peaceful protest on October 6, 1990 in downtown
Denver to draw attention to the racist nature of celebrations of Christopher
Columbus and Columbus Day. The parade, which will wind through downtown Denver
beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 6, is sponsored by the Federation of
Italian Americans.
In addition, Colorado AIM, and several other endorsing
Indian and non-Indian organizations, will hold a rally entitled "No
Holidays for Murderers: Some Truths About Columbus Day." AIM has called on
Indians and supporters from across the state to attend the rally, and AIM has
encouraged parents of American Indian students to keep them home from school and
accompany them to the rally. Said AIM co-director Glenn Morris, "Students
who attend the rally will learn more about their people and history in two hours
than they will in the public schools in twelve years." The rally will be
held at 12 NOON, Monday, October 8, 1990 on the west steps of the state Capitol
building.
The purpose of both demonstrations will be to voice
American Indian opposition to the celebration of Columbus Day, and to demand
that the holiday be repealed at both the state and national levels. According to
Morris, "The lie that Columbus "discovered" America through the
operation of some enlightened and visionary process must be repudiated. Columbus
was a slave trader and a murderer. There is even significant evidence that he
was not Italian. The myth is full of distortions."
Most importantly to AIM, however, is what the Columbus
myth and legacy have meant in the destruction of indigenous peoples throughout
the hemisphere. According to AIM elder Joe Locust, Sr., "The lie of
Columbus has denied Indian people our humanity; to believe the myth, one must
also believe that nothing of significance happened in this hemisphere before the
arrival of the Europeans. Such a belief denies the existence of beautiful
cultures, societies, cities, and political systems at a time when Europe was
still crawling out of the Middle Ages. This denial of our personhood has enabled
Europeans to engage in consistent policies of genocide that continue to this
day."
The rallies are organized to be peaceful expressions of
our disgust at a society that can honor a person who was personally a murderer
and slave trader. Continues Joe Locust, Sr., "As self-respecting people,
how can we accept celebrations to Columbus any more than Jews could accept
celebrations of Hitler, or Cambodians could accept celebrations of Pol Pot?
Columbus began a process of genocide that resulted in the deaths of millions of
Indian people, and governments all over this hemisphere continue those policies
today."
AIM wants to be clear that the protests are not
anti-Italian, anymore than anti-Hitler demonstrations are anti-German. In fact,
the rally has been endorsed by a group from Italy that solidly expresses its
support for indigenous peoples in the Americas, the Centro di Documentazione
Sulle Minoranze Ethniche in Firenze, Italy. The AIM position is that, as a
society, the U.S. must begin to examine history with a more truthful and
inclusive perspective.
Toward that end, AIM advocates not merely the
elimination of Columbus Day as a national and state holiday, but its replacement
by a national holiday that truly celebrates the racial and cultural diversity of
this society. Columbus Day, a divisive and painful holiday for the first peoples
of this hemisphere should be transformed into a celebration of the hope of a
mutually respectful multicultural and multiracial country. Unfortunately, in
order to begin the construction of the new order, the archaic obstacles and
myths of the past must be brushed away. This October, we mean to continue that
process of brushing the lies away.
|
