Skip to content

Depending on where you live, today is…

on October 11, 2010

In most cities, it’s Columbus Day… but in Berkeley, it’s Indigenous Peoples Day. Grass dancers shook to the beat of drums and non-Native Americans had the opportunity to learn about Native American culture through food, arts and craft, and traditional clothing at the city’s annual pow wow yesterday.

According to the Berkeley Indigenous Peoples Day’s website, the city renamed Columbus Day in 1992–the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage–and after the inaugural year, a free pow has been held in Berkeley’s Civic Center Park. The initial idea of replacing Columbus day was actually discussed back in 1977 at the International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas. In 1990, representatives from 120 Indian nations gathered in Ecuador to speak about the upcoming anniversary during the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance. It was during this meeting when a resolution was passed to replace Columbus Day.

Later that year, Northern California Indians met in Davis and Oakland, where a coalition of people–called the Resistance 500– were appointed to plan a celebratory 500 year anniversary for 1992. One part of the group focused on Berkeley, and even had the Berkeley City Council assign a task force to research the history behind the holiday. After reviewing the historical findings that “Columbus’s expedition was not a scientific ‘voyage of discovery,’ but a scouting mission for a scheme of imperialism and conquest,” the council officially decided to rename the holiday Indigenous Peoples Day.

For Berkeley residents, you’ll get to keep your spare change since parking meters aren’t enforced.  Unfortunately for Oakland residents, the same doesn’t apply–parking meters will be enforced. Also, city facilities in Oakland are closed, as well as banks and post offices. The upside: most supermarkets, retail stores and restaurants will remain open, so if you’re lucky enough to work for a place that gives you a day off today, you can use it to your advantage.

Oakland North welcomes comments from our readers, but we ask users to keep all discussion civil and on-topic. Comments post automatically without review from our staff, but we reserve the right to delete material that is libelous, a personal attack, or spam. We request that commenters consistently use the same login name. Comments from the same user posted under multiple aliases may be deleted. Oakland North assumes no liability for comments posted to the site and no endorsement is implied; commenters are solely responsible for their own content.

Photo by Basil D Soufi
logo
Oakland North

Oakland North is an online news service produced by students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and covering Oakland, California. Our goals are to improve local coverage, innovate with digital media, and listen to you–about the issues that concern you and the reporting you’d like to see in your community. Please send news tips to: oaklandnorthstaff@gmail.com.

Latest Posts

Scroll To Top