After Debate over Columbus’ Role in History, Dallas City Council Recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ Day

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The Dallas City Council on Tuesday approved recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day — a nod to the American Indians who lived on Southern land long before white settlers came and forcibly relocated them to Oklahoma. Currently Texas has only three reservations.

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“This is a day that we right a wrong for you folks, the folks that started here,” Narvaez said on the brink of tears, addressing the Native American speakers who supported the resolution during the public hearing.

Council member David Blewett delayed the vote on the resolution until the afternoon in efforts to remove some of the references to Christopher Columbus.

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By the end of the discussion, Blewett conceded his opposition to three other parts of the resolution, including one that referenced “systematic racism.” But he still opposed one line that said Columbus never set foot in Texas, and that honoring the figure “promotes values of intolerance and violence.”

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After the vote, Native American leaders said they felt the resolution had been “whitewashed” in the process. Yolonda Blue Horse, a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said that by removing the line, they ignored the history of violence that Columbus’ role had on her community.

“Ignorance is alive and well in our City Council,” Blue Horse said. “The council members are still not willing to hear the truth of what has happened to us.”

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Texas and the city already don’t recognize Columbus Day. But Peggy Larney, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and retired Dallas ISD employee, said Indigenous Peoples’ Day would better promote American Indian history among students, who are often exposed to harmful stereotypes of the culture.

Native American leaders said they’re glad the day is now recognized, and that the vote still shows progress for Texans despite the compromise. City officials and community leaders will celebrate the day on Monday at Dallas City Hall. Larney said more than 200 tribal representatives are in Dallas alone.

Blue Horse told the council that the day will recognize American Indian communities that have systematically been eradicated with violence. It’s an uncomfortable history, she said, but one the city needs to own up to.

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