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October 13, 2024

Reimagining Columbus Day, protest music, public libraries and how to support hurricane victims.

Eastern and Southeastern communities are reeling after the devastating impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Here are a few organizations to support to help residents – particularly those disproportionately impacted – recover.

• Tampa Bay Resiliency Fund, run by a coalition of nonprofits that provides disaster relief to residents

• Tampa Bay Rapid Response Fund, run by the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay to address emergency situations.

• Tampa Bay Mutual Aid is open to distribute supplies, offer wellness services and share resources.

• BeLoved Asheville, which is organizing to provide on-the-ground resources.

• Day One Relief supports BIPOC and LBGTQ+ organizations that are often ignored when it comes to recovery efforts after major storms like Hurricane Helene.

Learn More

• It wasn’t just a hurricane that devastated North Carolina: It was climate violence. Prism >

• Mutual Aid in the Aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Yes Magazine >

• Hurricane Helene reveals the importance of mutual aid. The Daily Tar Heel >

Christopher Columbus is not the famed explorer we learned about in school. His travels here sparked the rapid colonization of the Americas as we know them today. He enslaved and mutilated Indigenous peoples as soon as he arrived and was financially incentivized to reap as much value from the lands he visited as possible – economizing the harm (Biography). He wasn’t even the first European to “discover” America; the Vikings had already visited five centuries earlier (Britannica). He didn’t even step foot into the continental United States (Washington Post). Y’all, even the names of the ships are likely false.

But let’s take a step further and dismantle the “discoverer” part of his story altogether:  Indigenous people were already living here, so there was nothing to find. The idea that a place needed to be “discovered” by white people for its validation is part of the colonization and oppression that continues to influence our thinking. This thought pattern has been used to validate the domination of Indigenous people around the world to this very day.

Efforts to change Columbus Day into Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a small step towards justice. But know that it is not new, even if it’s new to you. Activists have pushed for an alternative to Columbus Day since the 1970s. Berkeley, California, was the first city in the U.S. to adopt this holiday in the early 90s (Time). Important to note: South Dakota started referring to Columbus Day as “Native American Day” in 1989 (Washington Post).

As of now, only 16 states and the territory of American Samoa still observe the second Monday in October as an official public holiday exclusively called Columbus Day (Pew Research). In 2021, the Biden administration formally recognized Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a holiday. It is not federally recognized, as Congress must pass legislation to make it a federal holiday. However, it is a step forward, thanks to the efforts by Native and Indigenous people campaigning to establish the holiday. You can dive into more about the process and any opposition for various locations in this NYTimes article.

After centuries of erasure and oppression, Indigenous people deserve to be celebrated more than one day a year. This initiative shouldn’t be considered merely a replacement for Columbus Day. But as we advocate for the change, we must remember that Columbus Day itself is incredibly harmful, and disavowing it is a distinct issue. We need to reject the whitewashed and glorified story of Columbus as a famed discoverer and acknowledge the harm he created to native communities through his colonization.

TAKE ACTION

• Learn how Diné architect Tamarah Begay is in charge of the “Reimagining Columbus” project, which is developing recommendations for the Christopher Columbus statue removed from their City Hall’s campus in 2020.

• Use these resources from Zinn Education Project to encourage schools to contextualize their curriculum.

• Donate to a Native land trust near you. If you can’t find one, consider supporting the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, led by urban Indigenous women.

Black enrollment drops at top schools as affirmative action axed. Early data suggests banning race as a factor in college admissions hurt Black student enrollment at selective universities, without uniform benefits for Asian Americans. Bloomberg >

Racism was called a health threat. Then came the DEI backlash. A growing number of institutes exploring the nexus between racism and health — and their researchers — are under attack. Washington Post >

Ta-Nehisi Coates on why books scare people. The Sunday Story host Ayesha Rascoe talks to author Ta-Nehisi Coates about his new book, The Message and why some people fear books so much they lead efforts to have them banned. NPR >

Helene dumps rain on millions of us homes that lack flood insurance. The storm’s downpours have brought flooding far inland in the Southeast and Appalachia, where few homeowners are insured against it. Bloomberg >

How public libraries are becoming community hubs in the midst of disasters. Beyond just green upgrades, libraries across the country have become centers for resilience and recovery in the face of climate change. Fast Company >

Arab and Muslim Americans could decide outcomes in swing states. Muslims distraught by Democrats arming Israel may stay home or vote uncommitted, potentially affecting the party’s chances in key states, researchers and advocates say. Prism >

What happened to protest music? The success of Macklemore’s “Hind’s Hall” offers hope for a resurgence of protest music. In These Times >

“This election, spare us the Hillbilly Elegy. Queer Appalachians are fending for ourselves”. Amid national media attention on an underserved region, LGBTQ+ Appalachians are relying on each other. them >

2024 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Japan’s atomic bomb survivors. The Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. Fast Company >

Black women and Latinas are driving Harris’ inflation edge among women voters. It’s a change from June, when Joe Biden was leading the Democratic ticket, according to polling from KFF. 19th News >

What do you do with a genocidal society? There are societies that resist, and then there are the societies that destroy, inflict harm, and invade. This is a helpful reflection on where we go from here. Prism >