The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 16

sTorIes oF Peacemakers

Why We Worked for Indigenous
Peoples' Day in Oberlin
by Cindi and Jeriel Byron-Dixon

olumbus day has a controversial history in the united
States, despite being one of the newer federal holidays.
After it was established at the federal level in the 1930s by uS
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, many Italian-Americans have
celebrated the day as one of cultural pride, particularly in
times when Italian-Americans struggled against discrimination.
however, when World War II rolled around, columbus' Italian
origins allowed supporters of Mussolini to use the celebrations
as a platform. In addition, native American tribes across the
country found the holiday offensive even before it received
federal recognition.

"Our committee, the Committee
for Indigenous Peoples' Day,
seeks to tell the truth about
our history. We want to stop
celebrating Columbus as some
kind of hero who should be
revered. He did not discover our
country. As I explained, he was
a criminal."
In 1992, Berkley, CA, became the first city in the US to
reject columbus day in favor of Indigenous peoples' day.
Twenty-five years later, as of Oct. 9, Time reports a list of 55
cities which have done the same-as well as three universities,
three states, two cities which celebrate both, and South dakota,
which replaced columbus day with native American day in
1990. More communities are considering the same, including
Washington, dc itself. As of october 2017, oberlin, oh, is
on the list, and Cindi and Jeriel Byron-Dixon can tell you why.
The following is from their speeches at an oberlin rally of the
oberlin committee for Indigenous peoples' day.

Baptist Peacemaker

JAN-MAR 2018

From Cindi Byron-Dixon:

friend asked me to explain why I worked to enact Indigenous peoples' day and what that might accomplish. I
appreciated his wanting to know and thought maybe I should
share my response with others who would like more details.
For starters, Christopher Columbus is widely recognized as
having discovered America. he didn't. he never even stepped
foot onto the soil of the north American continent.
he and his men kept journals. In his own journals he spoke
of his intention to either destroy or enslave the indigenous people
he encountered. he also wrote about his own rape of a woman
and how he sexually trafficked girls as young as nine years old.
one account says that one of columbus' men was shocked
by his cruelty and documented what was happening. The description is graphic and more violent than I had ever imagined.
columbus was forced to return to europe eventually, after
having been charged with crimes Against humanity. The king
and Queen whom he made rich did set him free from prison.
columbus and his men are responsible for the genocide of the
Arawak people-more than 6 million in Hispaniola.1
our committee, the Indigenous peoples' day committee,
seeks to tell the truth about our history. We want to stop celebrating columbus as some kind of hero who should be revered. he
did not discover our country. As I explained, he was a criminal.
We think it is better to recognize the true people of our
land. By recognizing that this land was occupied by people
before colonization and celebrating those people instead of
columbus, we take steps toward restorative justice. That is huge
to me. We seek to do this for the same reasons we celebrate
Juneteenth2 in oberlin.
Scientists are now learning that trauma is passed on from
generation to generation through epigenetics3. Intergenerational stress and historical trauma are real and impact children
in real ways. Generations of kids forced into boarding schools
created generations of parents without children to raise. The
system succeeded in dismantling traditional family and cultural
structures and values.
When it comes to boarding schools, the trauma is passed
down in obvious ways. Many young people never learned
their native languages. Many parents and grandparents raising
children even today are distrustful of the education system.
educational achievement for native kids in schools from kin-

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018