The World of Wellesley, together with other community members, organized a community signature drive to support a resolution being created and accepted, by the Wellesley Board of Selectman, for Wellesley to honor Indigenous Peoples Day and no longer recognize Columbus Day. ​ World of Wellesley acknowledges that Wellesley is located on the traditional territory of the Massachusett People.
To get involved with the effort to declare Indigenous Peoples Day in Wellesley, you can reach out to World of Wellesley at info@worldofwellesley.org, or connect with them on their website.
Letter to the Wellesley Board of Selectmen from World of Wellesley:
Hello Friends and Neighbors,
The World of Wellesley, together with other community members, invite you to participate in a community signature drive. Your signature would support a resolution being created and accepted, by the Wellesley Board of Selectman, for Wellesley to honor Indigenous Peoples Day and no longer recognize Columbus Day, on the second Monday of October.
We have all heard the voices of Indigenous People who are calling for an end to the celebration of Columbus. We support joining the dozens of other cities (including in Massachusetts, Cambridge and Harvard College, Somerville, Brookline, Amherst and Northampton) and entire states, including Minnesota, Alaska, Vermont, Oregon, and North Carolina, who have already replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. Hawaii celebrates Discoverers’ Day on the second Monday of October. And South Dakota celebrates Native American Day.
Please support this resolution because it reflects your values and the values of our schools, who are educating our children about the importance of human rights, including the knowledge and understanding that Indigenous people lived on this land since time immemorial, tens of thousands of years before Columbus arrived in 1492, and they continue to live and thrive amongst us despite 527 years of colonization and institutionalized suppression of their cultures and voices. Historical record shows that Columbus committed brutal atrocities against the indigenous people he encountered, including rape, theft, enslavement, mutilation, and mass murder, and he is recognized as having initiated the transatlantic slave trade.
Our Indigenous friends and neighbors consider changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day as an important first step toward acknowledging the genocide of millions of their ancestors and the theft of their homelands, that began with the arrival of Columbus, as well as a recognition of Columbus’ role in the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of African people. It is a meaningful symbolic gesture to begin addressing the pain caused to Native Peoples by the many years of celebrating Columbus as a hero.
Thank you for considering adding our community to the growing number of towns who embrace a corrected history and a path towards peace.
World of Wellesley
We as people who reside, work, and engage in Wellesley acknowledge this town is located on the traditional territory of the Massachusett People.
photo credit to John Phelan [CC BY 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons
