Fair Day (a post for Indigenous Peoples’ Day)
By Cameron Vickrey
Since Indigenous Peoples’ Day is next week, I asked Mariah Humphries, our Native Justice Consultant, for advice about what we should do or say to mark the occasion. She sent me what she wrote last year (which I’ll share with you), and then said something to the effect of, “If it’s important to you, why don’t you write something about it.” The subtext being, we keep asking people from the marginalized communities to do the work for us, and it’s time that the rest of us speak up. So here’s what I have to say about the upcoming holiday.
The transition from calling next Monday's holiday Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of Columbus Day is not a hard switch for me personally. I grew up in Dallas where we called this annual day off from school, "Fair Day." We were all given a ticket to the State Fair of Texas to use on that Monday. I actually have to remember that it's not Fair Day for everyone else.
But maybe if we all grew up with Fair Day, it would make us more inclined to want the day to actually be fair! Thinking of Indigenous Peoples' Day as "Fair Day" isn't such a bad idea. The day should honor a fair telling of history. The day could be used to right injustices, to remember the American story with fairness and honesty.
The last few years, I've become more and more aware of the history and current realities of our Native brothers and sisters. Fellowship Southwest is committed to lifting up Native concerns, and this year contracted with Mariah Humphries to be our Native Justice Consultant. Mariah is a Mvskoke citizen and has helped us catch up with our knowledge of Native American history. But I think it's more than having a front row seat to Fellowship Southwest's efforts. There seems to be a cultural shift happening, slowly but surely.
My kids are being taught a very different narrative of Christopher Columbus than I was. I asked my fourth grader what her school teaches about Christopher Columbus. She said, "Not much." She had never heard, "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." She had never heard of the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. But she can tell me all about the Comanche and Kiowa tribes who used to roam this part of Texas, and how many of them died of smallpox.
I don't think we lose much by letting Columbus Day fizzle, but we have much to gain by replacing it with Indigenous Peoples' Day. If nothing else, it is an act of resistance to a European telling of history that simply isn't fair.
Here’s what Mariah wrote last year for Missio Alliance about her fellow Native Americans:
“Yes, there is the resiliency we’ve had to develop throughout history; but we are also artists, scientists, founders, lawyers, writers, professors, collegiate presidents, activists, politicians, teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, and so on. We are protectors of the land and water. Together, we are a mighty voice. We believe in stewarding the land that our Creator placed us on. We are Imago Dei, and our skin, our language, and our existence reflects the image of the Creator.
“Simultaneously, you cannot dismiss the very real continual suppression and oppression by both fellow Americans and the entity of government. For my non-Native sisters and brothers, may you look beyond prejudice and what you know of history, and begin to search for the totality of the story.”
