This is the follow-up campaign to the successful” Change the Massachusetts State Flag” campaign.
Please call or email Co-chairs of the Joint Committee on State Administration, Rep. Tony Cabral and Sen. Marc Pacheco asap. Ask them to set a vote before the 6/30 deadline and favorably pass this bill out of their Committee, where it has been stalled for months, so the Legislature can vote on it this year:
An Act Establishing Indigenous Peoples Day for Massachusetts (S.2027 / H.3191)
A phone call to Rep. Tony Cabral, could make all the difference. His phone number is (617) 722-2017) or email him at (Antonio.Cabral@mahouse.gov ).
· If you have time, please also call his co-chair, Sen. Marc Pacheco, at (617) 722-1551 or email him at: ( Marc.Pacheco@masenate.gov ).
Urge Rep. Cabral and Sen. Pacheco to allow the Indigenous Peoples Day bill to move forward with a positive vote from their committee today!
The law, if passed, will replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in MA. Changing the second Monday in October to Indigenous Peoples Day would acknowledge the harmful impact of celebrating Columbus as a hero. Historical accounts prove that wherever he went, Columbus and his men murdered and enslaved Indigenous People. The repercussions continue to be keenly felt even now in Massachusetts.
Indigenous Peoples Day would replace something negative with something positive – an increased awareness of Indigenous Peoples and a celebration of Indigenous resilience and survival, in Massachusetts and throughout the Americas.
A victory for Indigenous People would be a victory for all people of color in Massachusetts, who still experience the racism and violence that was first visited upon the Indigenous People of the Americas by Columbus and his crew.
You don’t need to be an expert on this bill. Just speak from your heart and encourage Rep. Cabral and Sen. Pacheco to allow this long stalled racial justice bill to move forward.
We want to honor the Native people of this land rather than honoring the slave trader Columbus in our public schools, and in our cities and towns.
For more information:
IndigenousPeoplesDayMA.org
daviddetmold@gmail.com