澳彩开奖

On Monday, Oct. 12, many people will observe a holiday that celebrates what schoolchildren for generations in our country have been taught was Christopher Columbus鈥� 鈥渄iscovery鈥� of the Americas in 1492. But we know today that this supposed 鈥淣ew World鈥� was already home to with their own cultures, languages and sovereignty who had 听

Historians agree that for these Indigenous peoples, the arrival of Columbus and the Europeans who followed him was a calamity of . Over time, the population was decimated through war, disease, , and .

Today, there鈥檚 a growing movement across the country to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples鈥� Day. Fourteen states, more than 130 cities and numerous school districts now celebrate Indigenous Peoples鈥� Day instead of or in addition to Columbus Day, according to Smithsonian Magazine, which offers for how to observe the day amid the pandemic.

But this is about more than the symbolism of a holiday. It鈥檚 about truth-telling and correcting historical misinformation so that we can better reckon with our history 鈥� so that we can understand how this history shaped our present and use our shared knowledge, no matter how uncomfortable, to forge a truly just and equitable future for all.

That鈥檚 why the 澳彩开奖鈥檚 Teaching Tolerance project has produced a new short film for the classroom 鈥� . Made to share with students in grades 6 and up, the film introduces the history of Indigenous enslavement on land that is now the United States and those working to recover that history.

Recognizing the ways that American enslavement, dispossession and white supremacy continue to pervade our society is a critical first step in dismantling oppressive systems still in place. And students deserve an accurate accounting of that legacy. As Hasan Kwame Jeffries, chair of our Teaching Hard History Advisory Board, wrote , 鈥淪ome say that slavery was our country鈥檚 original sin, but it is much more than that. Slavery is our country鈥檚 origin.鈥�

But schools have not traditionally taught about the enslavement of Indigenous peoples. The 澳彩开奖 film introduces leading scholars and historians who speak to 听the scope of this forgotten slavery.

, for example, explains that Indigenous enslavement is 鈥渁n American subject that both predated African American slavery and existed far beyond the contours of African servitude, particularly in the American South.鈥� And Andr茅s Res茅ndez, author of The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America, notes that the enslavement of Indigenous people in the American West continued 鈥渢hroughout the 19th century.鈥� In all, he estimates, somewhere between 2.5 and 5 million Indigenous people were enslaved in the Americas between the arrival of Columbus and the year 1900.

The injustices continued long after slavery was abolished.

Indigenous people were not until 1924 until 1948. They were not granted or the right to determine in their communities until 1978.

The effects are clear today.

A quarter of American Indians and Alaska Natives and experience extreme inequities in . Many Indigenous nations are their languages, traditional ceremonies and spiritual practices. They face significant barriers to , especially after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. And Euro-American culture continues to the very same cultural practices that Indigenous peoples themselves were discouraged from openly expressing because of state-sponsored violence.

It鈥檚 long past time to acknowledge the past and work to ensure equity in the present.

鈥淚 just think that ultimately it鈥檚 about truth and truth-telling,鈥� says Alice Qannik Glenn, assistant producer of The Forgotten Slavery of Our Ancestors. 鈥淎nd in order to move forward ... we should acknowledge the truth.鈥�

As an I帽upiaq, Glenn says, learning this history can be 鈥渉ealing鈥� 鈥� and 鈥渁n acknowledgment of the truth that happened to us as Native peoples in the past鈥� and an answer to today鈥檚 stereotypical, or absent, representations of Indigenous people and cultures.听

Observing Indigenous Peoples鈥� Day instead of Columbus Day is an important step.

Photo by B. Christopher/Alamy Stock Photo