The Salt Lake City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a ceremonial resolution that would also brand Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day in Utah’s capital city.
The effort, sponsored by Councilman Charlie Luke, was led by the Utah League of Native American Voters, which said in a statement that 26 other cities nationwide have done the same.
“This change, while symbolic, is about recognizing the contributions, history and sacrifices made by the original inhabitants of the area,” said Utah League of Native American Voters co-founder Moroni Benally, in a news release. “It is about correcting history and building a stronger country.”
A draft resolution calls upon Salt Lake City’s public schools “to teach about the culture, government and history of Indigenous Peoples on this day and encourages residents, businesses, organizations, and public institutions to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”
Salt Lake City is built upon the lands of indigenous peoples, the draft resolution says, and was shaped in many ways by their contributions. The city “has a responsibility to oppose the systematic discrimination toward Indigenous people in the United States, which perpetuates high rates of poverty and income inequality, exacerbating disproportionate health, education and social crises.”
The resolution doesn’t say, however, that Indigenous Peoples Day would replace Columbus Day, or that it would undo the state’s existing Indigenous Peoples Day on the Monday before Thanksgiving.
Benally said Tuesday the League’s effort was an attempt to pick up the baton from State Sen. Jim Dabakis, who ran a more strongly worded bill in 2016 that died in the Senate.
The hope is to better educate the community and improve the self-esteem of Native American youths, Benally said, and the resolution was informed by members of the Navajo and Ute tribes.
The League will host a rally in support of the resolution before the council’s formal meeting, beginning 6:15 p.m. at City Hall, 451 S. State St.
The Italian American Civic League of Utah sent the City Council a letter Sept. 26, saying the proposed resolution was “an uncalled-for affront to our culture” and “degrading and demeaning to all Italian-Americans.”
Nick Fuoco, a board member with the group, said Luke had ignored letters, emails and phone calls.
“To us, Columbus Day is about the legacy of Italian-Americans and immigrants in general, and we were hoping for any sort of dialogue with the City Council,” he said. “Plus, we think it‘s a little bit odd that Salt Lake City is going to recognize two Indigenous Peoples Days in one year.”
Italian Jesuits recorded Native languages and taught Native Americans to read and write, as well as agricultural skills, the group wrote in its letter to the council.
Fuoco said Columbus should be judged by the standards of his own time. To “re-litigate” historical figures is a slippery slope, he said.
“Should we tear down every Brigham Young statue in the state because Brigham Young was associated with the Mountain Meadows massacre?”