Indigenous People from many nations and families gathered together to celebrate Seattle’s 2014 resolution to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Since the day Seattle passed their resolution, Albuquerque, Portland, St. Paul, Olympia, and the state of Alaska have made the switch. Additionally, activists in Seattle have worked to adjust public school curriculum to teach students a more accurate version of history.
Demonstrators marched from Westlake to Seattle City hall where Mayor Ed Murray spoke on the importance of continued support for indigenous communities. Kshama Sawant and Bruce Harrell spoke before introducing Winona Laduke, an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg and a prominent environmental activist. “She is also the Executive Director of Honor the Earth, where she works on a national level to advocate, raise public support, and create funding for front line native environmental groups.” you can read more about her here…http://nativeharvest.com/winona_laduke