By Steve Klamkin WPRO News
Students and faculty came together Monday on the Brown University campus to mark the Ivy League University’s final move away from Columbus Day and “Fall Weekend”, to “Indigenous People’s Day”.
The move follows a protest and die-in at the Brown Main Green last year, and eventual acknowledgement last February by Brown faculty of “Indigenous People’s Day. The faculty had voted in 2009 to change the name of Columbus Day to “Fall Weekend”.
“Indigenous People’s Day is so much larger than just this university. “It’s a movement,” said Brown sophomore and Native American Ruth Miller.
“It’s a powerful uprising of those who’ve been unrecognized and denied for too long. Today we acknowledge the erased histories and ongoing resilience of native peoples.”
“We know we have a very robust Italian-American community nearby who really appreciates (Columbus Day) to celebrate their heritage,” said Brown Assistant Professor Elizabeth Hoover.
“But, at the same time we recognize the terrible human being that Columbus was, and what he has come to then represent for the genocide and enslavement of people on this land here,” Hoover said.
A panel discussion followed a viewing of a student-produced documentary film, “How We Remember”, describing the 2015 protests that led to the adoption of Indigenous People’s Day.
“For so long, our story has been told by an outsider perspective,” said filmmaker Sierra Edd, a Brown junior, “and it’s really important to center native voices and native people in the telling of our history.”
Brown is in the process of developing a program in Native American and Indigenous Studies.
“We’re working on hiring a director, we’re working on better native recruiting,” said Hoover, “working more with local native communities, we need to fill out the curriculum and hire more faculty members.”
