Janet Parker: Celebrating the survival of indigenous people, while standing up for immigrants

All across the country, people are tuned in to political and economic events this month and the stakes are high. October is a time for looking into our nation's history also, as the holiday formerly known as Columbus Day approaches. Last fall, the Dane County Board voted unanimously to pass a bill transforming Columbus Day into Indigenous People's Day. As the bill's author, Ashok Kumar, stated, "To me, Columbus Day is a celebration of occupation and the genocidal massacre of the indigenous population here. We're trying to replace that sad chapter of American history and celebrate the survival of Indians."

I want to welcome you to our Dane County celebration of the day at the Capitol Square this Sunday afternoon. This weekend, peace and immigrant rights activists across the country will join together to observe Indigenous People's Day. Rallies will call for an end to the brutal occupation of Iraq as well as human rights for all, including an end to the war here at home on immigrants. In Dane County, at the Capitol, on what promises to be a beautiful warm and sunny afternoon, we will celebrate the survival of indigenous people while we dance and listen to Mexican folk music performed by K-Libre Sierreño, from Chicago. The Immigrant Workers Union is the sponsor, with many other local groups supporting.

We call on our next president to act quickly in the first 100 days of the new administration to bring the troops home from Iraq and to reform our broken immigration policy to create a legal path to citizenship for immigrant workers.

Every day there are on average 29,000 people held in U.S. jails because of their immigration status. Many of these are people who migrated from Mexico and Central America, driven by poverty created by NAFTA and other trade agreements that give Walmart and other multinationals every right to move freely to do business across borders, but deny individual people that right. These lands were conquered by Columbus, but they belonged to indigenous peoples for millennia. Some quite reasonably argue that the borders that have been drawn on their lands should not stop them from migrating for survival.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, our military is occupying a country against the clearly expressed will of the people and the legislature, where multiple times bills have been passed by a large margin asking the U.S. to remove all troops. The colonial rule and extraction of mineral wealth that is going on now in Iraq parallels Columbus' entrance to the Americas five centuries ago. In Iraq the conquest was called "liberation" while here it was called "discovery." We call on our government to stop its shameful occupation that has cost so many lives, and we demand peace and human, civil, and workers' rights.

Let's spare a thought for the victims of war and occupation, and together let's call for change. Please join me at the rally and celebration this Sunday at the Capitol, from 3 – 6 pm. Details are here...