Salem City Council To Consider Indigenous Peoples' Day

SALEM, MA — Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day or both.

The Salem City Council will take up that question when the holiday dilemma is debated on Thursday night as a resolution urging city residents to recognize the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples' Day is considered.

The resolution urges Salem residents "to recognize and commemorate the occasion accordingly by reflecting on the legacy of the first peoples of this land, celebrating their contributions, and acknowledging the injustices suffered by them since 1626."

Salem joins other area communities addressing the complicated history of Christopher Columbus and whether his "discovery" of America in 1492 should be celebrated without regard for the Native Americans who lived on the land before he arrived.

The Melrose School Committee on Tuesday night voted to table a motion to strike Columbus Day from the district's calendar, a move sought as a "correction" to last month's decision to keep the holiday on Oct. 12 while adding Indigenous Peoples' Day.

In January, the Danvers Select Board unanimously endorsed a state bill that would the name of the holiday celebrated on the second Monday in October to Indigenous Peoples' Day from Columbus Day.

That resolution had been proposed by the Danvers Human Rights and Inclusion Committee. Elected officials in other Massachusetts communities, including Marblehead and North Andover, have taken similar stands in recent years.

The Salem resolution states:

WHEREAS the land that is today called the City of Salem was, for millennia before the arrival of Europeans here in 1626, called Naumkeag, or fishing place by the Massachusett peoples who lived here and called this place home; and

WHEREAS Nanepashemet and many other Massachusett Tribal leaders led their people from Naumkeag and the surrounding areas for millennia; and

WHEREAS Salem recognizes, values, and celebrates the many contributions made to our community, our Commonwealth, and our country by Indigenous Peoples’ now and throughout our history; and

WHEREAS Indigenous Peoples of this region and throughout this nation suffered and endured egregious acts of cruelty, exploitation, dispossession, enslavement and genocide; and

WHEREAS Salem today is a community that celebrates and welcomes everyone, is dedicated to pursuing equity and justice, and is committed to policies and practices that seek to undo systemic racism and discrimination;

THEREFORE we, the undersigned hereby acknowledge that Salem is Indigenous land, honor the resilience, survivance, and continuity of the Indigenous Peoples of our nation, and declare and recognize the second Monday of October of this year and for all years henceforth to be Indigenous Peoples Day in the city of Salem.

The resolution was endorsed by Mayor Kim Driscoll and Acting Police Chief Dennis King as well as City Councilors, School Committee members, State Legislators, community and church members.