Indigenous Peoples Day 2018, Los Angeles

Xochitl, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; RT; CBS Los Angeles, Oct. 8, 2018

LA celebrates first Indigenous Peoples Day

The Los Angeles City Council, heeding the direction of Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, voted to replace the genocidal imperialist enslaver Cristobal Columbus Day with a holiday celebrating native populations last year. Chris Holmstrom reports.

(RT/Tyrel Ventura) Erased History of Native Americans before Europeans

Life Before Columbus

(Watching the Hawks RT #138) Real History of Thanksgiving and Black Lives Under Fire

 

On this episode of “Watching the Hawks” Tyrel Ventura and Tabetha Wallace take a look at the media’s fear-mongering as the American holiday season ramps up at Halloween and Thanksgiving. Tabetha Wallace offers an exclusive look at The True Story Behind Thanksgiving. Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin sends the first ever re-usable rocket into orbit and back down to earth again. The team goes live to RT Correspondent Manuel Rapalo for the latest on the video of the police shooting of Laquan McDonald in Chicago. [The killer cop has now been found guilty of murder, and is awaiting sentencing after his conviction on multiple charges along with six fellow officers who lied to shield their fellow murderer in blue from the law]. Anya Parampil offers us the latest from the shootings at the Black Lives Matter protests in Minneapolis. A Syrian refugee offers warm meals to feed the homeless in Berlin so as to give back to the people who accepted him into their country.

• Watching the Hawks @ fb.me/WatchingTheHawks 
• WTH on Instagram @ instagram.com/watchingthehawks
• Tyrel Ventura @ twitter.com/WatchingTyrel 
• Tabetha Wallace @ twitter.com/WatchingTabetha 
• Sean Stone @ twitter.com/scstone5

Long Beach abolishes Columbus Day

Cris Rivera (49er Staff Writer, Oct. 4, 2017) edited by Wisdom Quarterly  Comment

Councilmember Jeannine Pearce (middle) congratulates supporters of Indigenous Peoples' Day with signs, "Support Long Beach Indigenous Peoples Day," after unanimous vote (Cris Rivera).

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Long Beach replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Ahh! I can't believe it! We really did it!

Oct. 9 will now be celebrated as Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of Columbus Day.
 

The decision to adopt Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Columbus Day was met with cheer and applause from the crowd at the Long Beach City Council meeting Tuesday night.

 

Indigenous Peoples' Day is a movement

The newly dubbed holiday will be celebrated Oct. 9 this year but won’t be officially observed until 2018 in Long Beach.

 

While still federally recognized as Columbus Day -- which has been a national holiday since 1937 -- Indigenous Peoples’ Day strives to acknowledge and celebrate Native American history and culture.

 

Cheyenne Phoenix, president of the Native American Student Association at Long Beach City College, described to the councilmembers and crowd what it was like to grow up as a Native American. More

• The LIST of cities adopting the day is growing!

Indigenous People's Day, LONG BEACH

Chrissie M. Castro (323) 420-6844, Dhr. Seven, Xochitl, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

LA COUNTY TO VOTE ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY
On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 9:30 am, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will hear public testimony and discuss the historical importance and cultural impact of establishing an Indigenous People's Day as an official Los Angeles County holiday.

Supervisor Hilda L. Solis and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s effort to repeal Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous People's Day (Item 2) in Los Angeles County annually on the second Monday in October.
 
We need help contacting and encouraging the supervisors in vote in favor of it. Please consider sending the following letter to the Executive Office of the Board at:

• ExecutiveOffice@bos.lacounty.gov
• CC the letter to: Kathryn@bos.lacounty.gov; firstdistrict@bos.lacounty.gov; MarkRidley-Thomas@bos.lacounty.gov; Sheila@bos.lacounty.gov; and fourthdistrict@bos.lacounty.gov.

CITY OF LONG BEACH TO VOTE ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY
The Long Beach City Council is considering the establishment of Indigenous People's Day. The Human Relations Commission of Long Beach will be submitting a proposal in support of celebrating Indigenous People's Day, and there will be a short presentation from a local indigenous community member to explain the importance of this day to the City Council. Finally, the City Council will vote and take action.

• Tuesday, October 3, 2017
• TIME: 4:00pm
• LOCATION:
• Long Beach City Hall
• 333 W. Ocean Blvd. 90802
• +Rally before the vote/meeting @4pm!
• +Attend City Council Meeting for the vote @5pm!

Let's come together and make this happen. This is a call to all friends and relatives to come and support! Indigenous People's Day in LA was a success. Now let's get the City of Long Beach to recognize it, too!

- Chrissie M. Castro (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)

Sample Letter
To the Honorable Mark Ridley-Thomas, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
To the Honorable Members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors

I am writing to express my strong support for Supervisor Hilda L. Solis and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s effort to repeal Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day (item 2) in the County of Los Angeles, on the second Monday in October.

Recognizing the contributions, history, and sacrifices made by the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles area is long overdue. In recent years, there is a greater awareness of the well documented history of the Americas from the time Christopher Columbus set foot on the shores of what is historically referred to as Hispaniola in 1492. Indeed, Columbus returned three additional times to the “New World,” setting in motion a genocide that would last centuries, the effects thereof are still felt today.

Later, the Spanish missionaries came to California, decimating Native Tribes to the point of extinction in some cases. It is time for Los Angeles County to reflect on the legacy of these actions and create a permanent tribute to the people who made it possible for the rest of us to make a life for ourselves on the lands that the original inhabitants were so mercilessly removed from.

Thank you for voting in favor of replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People's Day.

Sincerely,

[NAME]
[ADDRESS]
[PHONE/EMAIL]

LA replaces Columbus Day with IP Day!

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Larry Mantle (Airtalk, scpr.org, Aug. 30, 2017)

First Peoples hip hop at Grand Performances Los Angeles (grandperformances.org)

 

Neglected history (beacon.org)

Wisdom Quarterly stormed Los Angeles City Hall, the whole editorial crew, with hundreds of Angeleno supporters dressed in regalia, many cameras and livestreaming cell phones. And we did it!

After a passionate speech by Italian-American LA Councilmember Mike Bonin saying that even he agreed Christopher Columbus was no one to honor (even as we well honor so many contributions by our Italian-American community).

LA City Council's Mike Bonin

LA Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, who proposed this change to begin with, then spoke with the facts and a stack of support letters from various other groups supporting the move to denounce Columbus and honor the indigenous population.

Then came the vote. Seeing through the whitewash, ploys, and diversions (like creating a "[Generic] Diversity Day"), another Italian-American Councilmember Joe Busciano tried to get August 9th to be declared Indigenous Peoples Day.

O'Farrell, Bonin, et al. did a good thing.

Well, isn't that a good compromise? No! It would preserve the idolatrous worship of Columbus and the lie that he did all this for whites and did not do all that to reds and others, such crimes against humanity as: mass rape, mass enslavement, mass murder, ethnic cleansing, European hegemony, mass spreading of deadly diseases, mass theft, and imperialism. Then success:

LA Native dancer (Warrick Page/Getty)

The final vote had only only one no to throw out Columbus and put Indigenous Peoples Day in it place. The vote was unanimous minus one with holdout Joe B. All the yeses won the day. Then came the real surprise. We ran out to the west-facing steps where all the overflow crowd of tribe members and supporters were dancing to Aztec drums, after moving from the south lawn where we once had our Occupy encampment, and we did the honors:

An American Genocide

Wisdom Quarterly announced the results to whoops and screams, yells and clapping -- "They just voted inside, and we won! Los Angeles now has an Indigenous Peoples Day!" Exhausted dancers started to scream in disbelief and ask other visitors pouring out of chambers. Was no one else going to announce it to them?

The same thing happened during the recent eclipse when no one else called out to the sea of people at Caltech to tell them we were at maximum. So we had to do it. There were hugs, tears, and everyone was eating a catered spread of Mexican food, tea, and bottled water.

• LA City Council recommends replacing Columbus Day
• Should Los Angeles forget [imperialistic] Columbus Day?
• Los Angeles City Council considers Indigenous Peoples' Day

The controversy over replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day

Larry Mantle (AirTalk, scpr.org, Aug. 30, 2017) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

 

Tongva leader Toypurina would be glad.

The Los Angeles City Council will vote today on whether to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.

 

As reported by City News Service, the move was proposed by Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell in November 2015. O’Farrell said that “recognizing the contributions, history, and sacrifices made by the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles area is long overdue.” More

Replace Columbus w/ Indigenous Peoples Day?

Host Larry Mantle (AirTalk, scpr.org, Aug. 30, 2017) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Worshipping false idols: A 76-foot statue of exploiter Christopher Columbus stands in Columbus Circle on August 23, 2017 in New York City (Spencer Platt/Getty Images).

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The controversy over replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day

Tongva leader Toypurina would be glad.

The Los Angeles City Council will vote today on whether to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.

 

As reported by City News Service, the move was proposed by Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell in November 2015. O’Farrell said that “recognizing the contributions, history, and sacrifices made by the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles area is long overdue.”

He also highlighted the historical struggles of Native Americans including “enslavement and brutality [such as rape, murder, quick ethnic cleansing, slow genocide]” as reasons for the change.

Los Angeles Indigenous Peoples Day

Councilmember Joe Buscaino, who is Italian-American, opposed O’Farrell’s motion calling it "divisive."

Buscaino said in October that he would support creating an Indigenous Peoples Day [on August 9th], but not at the expense of another [imperialist, white supremacist mercenary and the Italian] culture [he supposedly represents].

• [There was one Italian woman -- not the only pro-Columbus person in the audience -- repeatedly kvetching, griping, and disrupting council procedures every chance she got. There were hundreds of pro-Indigenous Peoples Day advocates also. Finally an LAPD cop assigned to City Hall told her the control herself or be thrown out].

Now let's divest from Wells Fargo, Israel, and the military-industrial complex!

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But observing a second holiday would cost the city $2 million in overtime [not to mention insult Native Americans and, in essence, replace a provocative "Black Lives Matter" sign with a meaningless "All Lives Matter"].

 

What do Angelenos [in particular the native Gabrielenos/Tongva/Kizh] think of changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day? More + AUDIO

• GUEST: Stephen Aron, history professor and department chair at UCLA, whose research focuses on the American West and frontiers in North America.

If you want a pro-Native American version of history, you would have had to have been listening yesterday morning to Take Two, when Austin Cross and Libby Denkmann were sitting in for regular host A Martinez. They had UCLA Associate Professor Benjamin Madley, who is the author of An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe.

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LA: "Indigenous Peoples Day," Aug. 30th (vote)

Chrissie Castro, (323) 420-6844; Xochitl, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Los Angeles Indigenous community has been working in collaboration for two years to educate the LA City Council on the critical importance of a motion establishing Indigenous Peoples Day. Join us for this historic vote. Show up with family and friends. And share this notice with your networks.

Los Angeles City Council's motion on  will be discussed and voted on by the full LA City Council:

• LA City Council meeting on LA Indigenous Peoples Day motion
• NEW DATE! Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, 10:00 am
• Los Angeles City Hall
• Send parking request to: william.ayala@lacity.org

Ahe'hee, Chrissie Castro

Establishing Indigenous Peoples Day in L.A.

Chrissie Castro (323.420.6844); Xochitl, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Once proud traditions gone

The motion on establishing "Indigenous Peoples Day" will be heard at a special meeting of the Los Angeles City Council Rules Committee:

• Indigenous Peoples Day Hearing
• Wednesday, June 14, 2017, 6:00-8:00 pm
• Los Angeles City Hall, Room 340

We will be attending and encourage everyone to bring family and friends and attend as well.

The Los Angeles Native American-Indigenous community has been working in collaboration with the City of Los Angeles for more than a year to educate the City Council on the critical importance of this motion.

Join in for what is sure to be the final hearing before the motion is voted on by the full council in late June. 

• What was life like in this land before European invasion? Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz explains in An Indigenous Peoples' History of the U.S.

LA City Council: "Corporations are NOT people"

LA City Council votes against corporations

Occupy Los Angeles wins in the City Council: Far right Republicans say citizens do not matter if they try to interfere with their “right” to make money. Why? “Corporations have rights, and money is speech” (Citizens United).

LA City Council unanimously agreed that corporations are NOT people, so they are not entitled to the same constitutional protections.

If supported by the mayor, the city would be on record in support of federal legislation that would ensure that corporations are not entitled to the same rights as people, particularly when it comes to spending money to influence elections.

It also proposed language for a constitutional amendment declaring that money is not a form of speech and affirming the right of the federal government to regulate corporations.

Sylvia Moore with Move to Amend, which has the broad mission of opposing laws they say prevent the American people from governing themselves, said: “Corporations have taken over our society. They’re deciding what we eat, how people educate their children, and whether or not we have health care.”

The resolution cites Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black's 1938 opinion on the subject, “I don’t believe the word ‘person’ in the 14th Amendment includes corporations.”

Lose-Lose: 1,400 stormtroopers evict Occupy LA

Wisdom Quarterly (REPORTING)

Protective crowds gather to face violent LAPD police (CC Liu/Wisdom Quarterly)

Los Angeles police amassed at Dodger Stadium and turned it into a makeshift Guantanamo processing center. Homeland Security along with armed, white-clad LAPD (HazMat) agents destroyed property as was done during the removal of Occupy Wall Street claiming it was "contaminated" and could therefore not be held in custody for people to retrieve. Not since Israel last bulldozed Jenin (Janine) have authorities let loose such a show of force representing the powers of the police state.

Projectile shotguns pointed at unarmed peaceful demonstrators: Resistor in treehouse shot twice, breaking arm. If hit in the eye, one is blinded, if hit in head, concussion or death.

• The Battle/Massacre in Jenin took place in a West Bank camp. It was launched by Israeli paramilitary forces (IDF). They crashed the camp during the Second Uprising, as part of the euphemistically named Operation "Defensive" Shield. The camp was targeted because Israel claimed it was a launch site for terrorism. Israel used excessive force with infantry, commando forces, and assault helicopters. The victors write history...and use armored bulldozers to add the finishing touch.

While peaceful demonstrators faced off with a police line at the southeast intersection, additional troopers rushed in through City Hall. They fanned out trapping demonstrators, observers, and media. They encircled the camp and refused to let anyone pass out of the demonstration zone. They were fully armed and saw fit to shoot less-lethal projectiles at four tree house squatters, which could easily have blinded them.

• ~300 arrested in Occupy L.A. raid; bulldozing underway
• PHOTOS: Raiding Occupy Los Angeles
• Police take down OLA camp (Reuters)
• VIDEO: Occupy Philly and LA raided (BBC)
  

Five helicopters hovered overhead for hours. The media lined up on 1st St. facing the southside steps. And an estimated 100,000 dollars worth of property was sent to the dump. As heavy handed and fear-based as the authoritarian action was, it was also relatively restrained for the usually indiscriminately violent Los Angeles police.

Police Chief Beck should be lauded for this light handed approach in spite of pressure from conservatives and right wing fanatics to use violence. Bail is set unusually high at $5,000 (no O.R.) for misdemeanor charges of not dispersing from an assembly police have labelled illegal.

• The Occupy LA General Assembly will reconvene at 4:00 pm, Wed. Nov. 30, 2011 at 535 Main St. The meeting is slated for Pershing Square at 7:00 pm.
• There were no dispersal orders until after the officers rushed in and began to tear up the encampment.
• Those who managed to run out and disperse on their own after being kettled (corralled) were then ordered to disperse again even though they were not in the park. Standing anywhere made people "illegal assemblers."
  

Occupiers engage in civil disobedience protecting a symbolic central tent (Ashley Well/WQ).

Meditators arrested for going against the stream by promoting peace and unity in the OM.

Margaret Prescod (R) of Sojourner Truth with Veterans for Peace (Ashley Wells/WQ).

Helicopters above, jack booted rioters below, peaceful demonstrators caught in the middle (Reuters/Lucy Nichols).

Peaceful people run as helicopters and phalanxes of violent riot police chase them through downtown streets, eventually ending up in the heart of Skid Row (Reuters/David McNew).

Run, Occupiers, Run...and Regroup
(Reuters) Armed police in riot gear and biohazard suits removed anti-Wall Street activists from their LA camp at City Hall on Wednesday, arresting people and fencing off the area. On the East Coast, about 100 Occupy Philly protesters in Philadelphia swiftly and peacefully vacated their encampment overnight, but police later arrested 52 around the city on charges ranging from obstructing a highway to assaulting a police officer, officials said. More