Contact Information:

The Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory

American Indian Movement (Mid-Atlantic Region)

Contact: John Steinbach, (703) 822-3485

Johnsteinbach1@verizon.net

Indigenous Peoples’ Day, October 12, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 6, 2020

Washington, DC – The Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory, the American Indian Movement (Mid-Atlantic Region), and other organizations are organizing a celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day at Malcolm X Park (lower level), on 15^th and W Street NW,  from 12 (Noon) to 3:00 pm on October 12, 2020. It will feature speeches by prominent Native Americans, cultural performances and solidarity statements from organizations and public officials.

The organizers are proud to bring Indigenous Peoples’ Day to Malcolm X Park one year after the City Council of Washington, DC replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. We demand that the Columbus Fountain, located at Columbus Circle at Union Station, be taken down. We also demand the City Government institutionalize and fund Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an annual institution.

Indigenous People’s Day will honor Native Americans and their 500-year struggle for freedom and self-determination. Speakers will address such issues as the ongoing crisis of murdered and disappeared Indigenous women, the pipeline issue and numerous other violations of treaty rights, the catastrophic impact of Covid-19 on Indian Reservations, and the demeaning use of Native American names in team sports. Other speakers will speak in solidarity, linking the Indigenous Peoples’ Movement their own struggles. In addition, there will be cultural presentations by Indigenous and other community groups. Speakers will include Chief Billy Redwing Tayac from Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory, Penny Gamble Williams from Women of All Red Nations (WARN), Pete Lendaros from Mid-Atlantic American Indian Movement (AIM), and Council-Person David Grosso from the DC City Council, and author of the Indigenous Peoples’ Day resolution. Performers include Uptown Boyz, Malcom X Drummers and Dancers, and the Bolivian group Grupo Wayta.

According to Chief Billy Redwing Tayac, hereditary chief of the Piscataway Indian Nation, “On October 12, 1492, a group of Europeans landed on Turtle Island, a day that changed the entire world for the worse. It will never be the same again. On Indigenous Peoples Day, all human beings should come together for the good of the earth.”