Syracuse University on Monday will recognize Indigenous Peoples Day, rather than Columbus Day, for the second time in the last two years, hosting a panel discussion on Native American rights and a film screening, among other events.

The university adopted Indigenous Peoples Day in 2016 after the Chancellor’s Workgroup on Diversity and Inclusion proposed it in a list of recommendations to university officials. Indigenous Peoples Day replaced Columbus Day on the Syracuse University calendar.

“This recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day is just another step toward the general education about American Indians here in the United States,” said Kacey Chopito, a senior history major and president of Indigenous Students at Syracuse.

Columbus Day helps perpetuate stereotypes of indigenous peoples being savages, Chopito said.

Decolonization is happening, with tribes learning and relearning nearly lost languages they were forbidden to speak during colonization, Chopito said.

Skye Wiegman, an academic consultant for SU’s Native Student Program, said she is trying to learn the Eastern Algonquian language. The Shinnecock tribe from Long Island has tried to revitalize the language for the last decade, she added.

SU’s events on Monday will start with a Thanksgiving address on the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry campus at 9 a.m., with a tabling session for native peoples’ cultural organizations following shortly afterward, per an SU News release.

At 11 a.m., SU will also host an Indigenous Peoples Day celebration on the promenade.

A conversation with Onondaga Clanmother Freida Jacques and Jack Manno, a SUNY-ESF professor of environmental studies, on how to be an ally to native and indigenous peoples, will take place Monday afternoon. A screening of the film “Spirit Game” will start at 2 p.m. on SUNY-ESF’s campus.

The university’s observation of Indigenous Peoples Day will close with a panel discussion hosted by Indigenous Students at Syracuse and the International Socialist Organization at 7 p.m. in the Hall of Languages. Chopito and other panelists will discuss the struggle for indigenous peoples’ rights.

Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation will host a celebration at Columbus Circle in downtown Syracuse at 4:30 p.m.

SU’s events last year included fundraising and support initiatives for indigenous peoples at Standing Rock — Native American land where protesters and police clashed over the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“The fact that Syracuse is so involved and willing to incorporate us into the studies and the curriculum they have, and the events they host and the values they hold, is just huge,” Wiegman said.

Published on October 8, 2017 at 10:13 pm

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