Indigenous Peoples' Day

RESOLUTION NO. Res-200-000

Approved by the A.S. Board of Directors with a unanimous vote on November 30th, 2020: Press Release.

THE ASSOCIATED STUDENT OF SANTA MONICA COLLEGE:

WHEREAS, Columbus day celebrates Christopher Colombus and how he “discovered” the new world. It completely disregards the Indigenous People and how Columbus and his fellow colonizers colonized them.

WHEREAS, Indigenous Peoples day would acknowledge and raise awareness that we are on stolen land (SMC specifically is on Tongva, Chumash, and Kizh land). And it would pay respects to the 2 million Indigenous people who survived and continue to resist the aftermath of colonization.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Associated Students of Santa Monica college supports indigenous people and supports replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in all SMC Calendar of Events and Planner, in order to shed a better light on Indigenous People and stray away from White Supremacist Ideals. And pay honor to the 20 million indigenous people who were murdered in Columbus’s mass genocide.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Land acknowledgment statements, developed in consultation with the Tongva, Chumash, and Kizh peoples, will be offered with respect and purpose at all major A.S. events and any other time frames deemed appropriate.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Beyond the implementation of these statements, we encourage the college to begin processes of tribal consultation to integrate practices of active Indigenous acknowledgment into structural, curricular, and co-curricular spaces.