Indigenous Peoples Day in Pittsburgh
On the eve of International Human Rights Day, December 2, 2014, Pittsburgh's City Council of Pittsburgh passed a Will of the Council recognizing the 12th of October as Indigenous Peoples' Day in order to promote tolerance, understanding and friendship, and to overcome prejudice and eliminate discrimination stemming from colonization. The measure indicates Council support for the inclusion of the teaching of Indigenous peoples history as recommended by Indigenous communities in our public schools. This decision encourages truth-telling about our history, an important first step in the process of confronting and acknowledging the genocidal impacts of European colonization on native peoples. It is essential to promoting healing and to realizing a culture of human rights.
The Human Rights City Alliance is establishing a task force to organize activities to enhance public understandings of Indigenous peoples' histories and traditions, and to educate about the realities of colonialism, racism and genocide and their long-term impacts on Indigenous communities and other groups. If you'd like to join the Indigenous Peoples Day task force, contact us at pghrights[at]riseup.net
Indigenous Peoples Day 2017 --What you can do: We encourage everyone to play your part in changing our culture. This year do something to educate yourself and others about Indigenous Peoples Day and its importance to advancing human rights. Have a conversation with someone about Indigenous Peoples Day and about Pittsburgh's recognition of it.
Indigenous Peoples Day Action 2017Join area residents to read and discuss The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, an award-winning book by Sherman Alexie, a renowned author who will be visiting Pittsburgh on Monday October 16. Call up your local coffee shop, public library, or invite people to your home to discuss the book. Let us know about your event so we can publicize on our website and facebook page. Contact us at: pghrights [at] riseup [dot] net.
View or Download Discussion Guide.
This book can be purchased at local independent store, Classic Lines Books 5825 Forbes, Sq.Hill
Book discussion meet-ups
Let us know about your event so we can publicize on our website and facebook page. Contact us at: pghrights [at] riseup [dot] net.
- Thursday October 12th, 7:00PM Biddles Escape Cafe, 401 Biddle Ave.15221
- Monday October 30 1-3PM Carnegie Library East Liberty, 130 S Whitfield St
Resources
Final Report on Visit to US from the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples
Background on Indigenous Peoples Day: Wikipedia Article on Indigenous Peoples Day
Pittsburgh Stories
"Walk in Two Worlds: Native American Pittsburgh" by William Severini Kowinski
This is a slightly longer version of an article that appeared in the Pittsburgh City Paper, a free weekly, in the fall of 1992. The 500th year after Columbus turned out to be a good year for raising awareness of Native Americans. It was especially interesting to me that western Pennsylvania had been a crossroads for several Indian peoples, and they had played a large part in the history of the state after white settlement began. For awhile the Pittsburgh area was the frontier, and the kind of conflicts that occurred in the late 19th century in the west happened there some two hundred years earlier.
Indigenous Peoples Day around the Country & World**
- Seattle 2015- Winona LaDuke speaks at City-Wide Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration
- 2017 **L.A. City Council replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day on city calendar**
From Latin America to Asia: Learning from our roots, A conversation on Vivir Bien. by Focus on the Global South
- "Vivir Bien is a Spanish word that refers to the way of life of indigenous peoples in South America....Many of the underlying principles of 'Vivir Bien' can be found in indigenous cultures all over the world." The concept of buen vivir is seen as a key to helping us find alternatives to our current system, which is in crisis due to its unsustainable exploitation of the Earth and the people who live here.
Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt This graphic novel shows parallels between the struggles of native Americans, low-income people and people of color resisting displacement by urban 'development', and those fighting mountaintop removal in coal-mining regions.
