Indigenous Peoples Day, Los Angeles

Facebook.com/events...; Xochitl, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How "Los Angeles" used to be, a Tongva/Kizh collection of peaceful villages (Kizh)

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Hosted by Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell and Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission

• Interested? Invite:
• Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019 at 4:00–9:00 PM
• facebook.com/grandparklosangeles
• 200 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
• Grand Park: Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration

I [Mitch O'Farrell] am honored to announce the second year of our Indigenous Peoples Day celebration in the City of Los Angeles!

A community celebration will be held on Sunday, Oct. 13, between the hours of 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at Los Angeles City Hall and Grand Park at 200 N. Spring St., DTLA.

The theme this year will focus on the "Past, Present, and Future," with a call to action for our state and federal lawmakers to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.

Native American O'Farrell on the City Council

“I look forward to continuing the movement to celebrate this momentous day for Native Americans, and especially for Angelenos,” said Councilmember O’Farrell, a member of the Wyandotte Nation.

“I want to send a message to other municipalities across the country that replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day is essential if we are to ever eliminate the false narrative that Christopher Columbus was a benign conqueror who discovered America.”

“Indigenous Peoples Day is an opportunity for Los Angeles to celebrate the beauty and resilience of Indigenous peoples all over the world, as well as to recognize the first peoples of Los Angeles -- the Tongva, Tataviam, and Chumash Nations,” said Chrissie Castro, chair of the Los Angeles City County Native American Indian Commission.

“We use this day to lift up the historic and current movement to protect our lands, water and peoples, from stopping the human rights abuses of Indigenous migrants, to standing up for sacred sites protections at Mauna Kea [a massive, snow-capped mountain in Hawaii]. Indigenous Peoples Day is everyday.”

In addition to the Indigenous Peoples Day event that Councilmember O’Farrell’s office is hosting at City Hall, an Indigenous Pride event will take place on Sunday, Oct. 13, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m at the Autry Museum, 4700 Western Heritage Way, in Griffith Park.

“Indigenous Pride LA is a proud partner of Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell and the Native American Indian Commission,” says Indigenous Pride LA Co-Chair Gabriela Leon. “Together we aim to bring visibility to Indigenous people in Los Angeles County.”

Los Angeles’s first Indigenous Pride celebration was held on Oct. 7, 2018 at Barnsdall Park and celebrated Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer, and Indigenous lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, pansexual, Two-Spirit, and asexual people.

The event recognizes the need to have a space for Indigenous people from all lands, waters, and nations to meet and celebrate their heritage, cultures, and identities.

BACKGROUND: Led by Councilmember O’Farrell, members of the Los Angeles City Council established Indigenous Peoples Day in August of 2017 and celebrated the first event on Oct. 8, 2018.

Nationwide, there has been a movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.

The long list of cities that have adopted resolutions to declare the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day include San Francisco, Berkeley, Denver, Seattle, Anchorage, Portland (Oregon), Albuquerque, Minneapolis, and Santa Cruz.

Since Los Angeles replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, other large cities such as Detroit, Tulsa, and Long Beach followed. New Mexico, South Dakota, and New Hampshire are just a few states that also celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day.