Indigenous Peoples' Day and the Connection to Palestine

Today, October 9, 2023 is Indigenous Peoples' Day, and it can't be lost on us that for too long this day was/is a glorification of Christopher Columbus.

Indigenous resistance has been ongoing since European colonizers first arrived on the shores of Turtle Island, but it wasn't until 1992 in Berkeley, California that Indigenous Peoples Day was officially instituted. 

In a belated acknowledgement in November 2021 President Biden issued a proclamation recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day.

The devastating and unspeakable violence that is unfolding in Gaza at this very moment, in tandem with this day that encourages solidarity with Indigenous liberation, is a grave reminder that our struggles are interconnected and the biggest terrorist group is the U.S. Government.

Angela Davis said in Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement,

“The militarization of the police leads us to think about Israel and the militarization of the police there—if only the images of the police and not of the demonstrators had been shown, one might have assumed that Ferguson was Gaza. I think that it is important to recognize the extent to which, in the aftermath of the advent of the war on terror, police departments all over the U.S. have been equipped with the means to allegedly 'fight terror.'"

The anti-Black police violence of Ferguson, Missouri (and all over the U.S.) and the occupation of Palestine are inextricably connected, as are all movements to liberate oppressed people across the globe.

It's important for us to practice media literacy as this time and be wary of neoliberalism's attempt to villainize the oppressed and obfuscate the truth. Anna Rajagopal highlights how, "the use of passive voice and the misconstruing of events when it comes to reporting on Palestine serves to reinforce Zionist propaganda."

As Dr. Jenn M. Jackson said, “Whenever Black and Brown people resist oppression, we are cast as violent, aggressive, and riotous. But, the oppressors are silent about the violence they've enacted, typically for generations. This is how colonization works. Rewriting history is central to this process.”

May Palestine be free, The Land returned to the original stewards, and as Ericka Hart wrote in this Instagram caption, may "reparations [be paid] to the Indigenous Africans stolen from the continent against their will, removed from family, friends, culture(s), language(s) and enslaved on Turtle Island (US, Mexico and Canada) Caribbean and South America by white settler colonialist[s]."

In solidarity,

Erin Monahan
Co-Founder, Terra Incognita Media

KEEP ON LEARNING

Here are some resources to help you along your unlearning colonialism journey that I've found useful in mine:

• Check out this decolonized map of Turtle Island that The Decolonial Atlas created

• How Neoliberal Capitalism Fortifies Israel’s Occupation of Palestine

• Check out this video about the history of Palestinian oppression

• Here's Al Jazeera's take

• NPR's Consider This: What Comes Next, After Surprise Hamas Attacks on Israel?