Indigenous Peoples’ Day is held on October 8th and is a city and state holiday celebrated across the United States. It is meant to be taken as an opportunity to recognize and celebrate indigenous culture and their resilience throughout history. This is a chance for a community to embrace their members of Indigenous backgrounds and recognize that they are active and thriving members of your community.
Although this holiday is recognized by Washington as a State, the city of Pullman and Washington State University does not recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The WSU Native Center is trying to make a change by getting the city of Pullman to recognize the holiday through city council. Last Tuesday, September 17th, 2018 students showed up in support of the cause at a Pullman City Council meeting. It was agreed by city council at this meeting that they will come to a resolution by the next meeting on October 2nd, 2018.
WSU junior, Kerah Iyall, is an enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian tribe. She is the secretary of Ku-ah-mah, which is the native student ASWSU. She is also in the tribal nations building program through the native student center. I sat down with Kerah and talked about why it is important to bring Indigenous Peoples’ Day to Pullman, and what it means to her.
Kerah told me about how our university and Pullman are on the ceded lands of the Nez Perce tribe reservation and their land has been shrunken over the years. Also, it is the ancestral territory of the Palus people. “this land wasn’t empty” Kerah says “I think we need to honor that, the people who lived here, are still living here and the cultures that are still thriving.”
Kerah speaks with a lot of passion behind this cause. She carries so much pride and love for her culture that she is eager to share with her community. You can tell how important her culture is to her when she shares why Indigenous Peoples’ Day should be used to celebrate the indigenous population. “This day is an opportunity to celebrate our culture not just in the ancestral territory our University and Pullman lies within but also our Indigenous relatives around the world. It is bigger than our school and our town. It shows that we are here, and that we are heard. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a day to let people know they belong in a community and that their presence is valued.” Kerah says “When we have a day like Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and we have our dancers and our drums, all our celebrations are out there for the world to see it’s a way for people to connect and put some fasces to our culture.”
If you would like to show your support for Indigenous Peoples’ Day in our Pullman community, on Tuesday, October 2nd at 7:00 PM, the Pullman City Council will be meeting and voting on a resolution to bring Indigenous Peoples’ Day to the Pullman Community.