indigenous

A plan to construct a $90 million police training center at the South River Forest in Atlanta is facing resistance from residents, who say “Cop City” would threaten the community in more ways than one. Residents say the facility would take away a beloved green space and historic site that plays a crucial role protecting the city from flooding. “This is going to be the largest urban warfare training facility for police in the country,” said Jasmine Burnett, organizing director of Community Movement Builders, which is supporting resident opposition to the facility. “And, what does that mean when, in 2020, people were actually asking to abolish the police?” The South River Forest sits on the ancestral homeland of the Muscogee Creek people, who were forcibly removed in the early 19th Century...

Increasingly, Columbus Day is giving people pause. More and more towns and cities across the country are electing to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day as an alternative to – or in addition to – the day intended to honor Columbus’ voyages. Critics of the change see it as just another example of political correctness run amok – another flash point of the culture wars. As a scholar of Native American history – and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina – I know the story is more complex than that. The growing recognition and celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day actually represents the fruits of a concerted, decades-long effort to recognize the role of indigenous people in the nation’s history. Why Columbus? Columbus Day is a relatively new federal holiday. In 1892, a joint congre...

Tag: indigenous

Columbus Day Is Being Abandon In Favor Of Indigenous Peoples Day In Some Places