TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — As schoolchildren, most people learned “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492,” which is correct.

The problem is, he didn’t really discover America, although Americans celebrate Columbus Day the second Monday in October.

In an attempt to set the historical record straight, JoKay Dowell, coordinator for the Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance, sponsors the Indigenous Peoples’ Day of Sovereignty and Solidarity the second Monday in October.

According to Dowell, many indigenous people sailed the oceans and settled lands long before Columbus.

“Now that people know we hold this event every year, I get a lot of written information about the history of Columbus,” said Dowell. “I’ve received research papers and theses indicating many people, such as the Mandinko tribes of Africa and the Polynesian settlers of the Easter Island, sailed and discovered lands long before Columbus. It was the Catholic church that set forth a mandate for the people of Spain and Portugal to claim lands for the church that ended up making Columbus so well known. That’s why he got the credit. The sad part is, those mandates are still practiced today.

“Columbus’ life was justified for taking resources and exploiting them for the gain of a handful of powerful people,” said Dowell. “We hold this event to get the truth out. Truth is a threat to those in power.”

The event, held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tahlequah, drew a number of concerned groups and citizens, including Joni LeViness of the Green Party of Oklahoma.

“I love the idea of a day dedicated to solidarity and sovereignty,” said LeViness.

Ellen Guttillo, child welfare specialist for the Cherokee Nation, had a booth set up at the event.

“My focus is always on the children,” said Guttillo. “I look for any way possible to get the word out to possible foster parents, and this group is wonderful.”

The event included a fundraiser dinner for a youth technology training camp to be held next summer.

“We had a group of 20 youth trained in California in June by the Seventh Generation Fund to record the history of their people,” said Dowell. “We’re raising money today to train 20 youth in Oklahoma to do the same thing. They’ll learn to document history in several Oklahoma communities with the help of an elder mentor and present that history from a grassroots perspective during the Oklahoma centennial.”

Dowell said it’s a common misconception that there was only one “trail of tears” - that of the Cherokee people.

“We have native people living in Oklahoma from all over,” said Dowell. “They came from the Northwest coast, California, New York state, the Great Lakes. All those people were removed from their homes. They all have a trail of tears. We want to record those stories, the history of those families, among other things.”

Several Native American artists had booths displaying artwork, including Dana Tiger.

“I’m happy to support JoKay and her youth project,” said Tiger. “It’s important to tell history from a native point of view, and JoKay’s a real leader."



The fuss about Columbus

The first recorded celebration of Columbus Day in the United States was held by the Tammany Society, also known as the Colombian Order, on Oct. 12, 1792, marking the 300th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in the Bahamas.

Many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of Italian-American heritage. Columbus Day was first celebrated by Italians in San Francisco in 1869, following on the heels of 1866 Italian celebrations in New York City. The first state celebration was in Colorado in 1905, and in 1937, Franklin Delano Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as a holiday in the United States. Since 1971, the holiday has commemorated in the United States on the second Monday in October.

Some people, particularly Native Americans, find the holiday offensive because they object to honoring a person who they see as opening the door to European colonization, the exploitation of native peoples and the slave trade. In the United States, this has caused a persistent controversy between Native Americans and Italian Americans.

Some communities, such as Berkeley, Calif., have renamed the holiday Indigenous Peoples Day. The state of South Dakota renamed the holiday Native American Day in 1989.

Based in Denver, the Transform Columbus Day Alliance is an international coalition of more than 80 social justice organizations committed to challenging traditional views of Columbus as pioneer and sole discoverer of the Americas, and that he, as well as colonial powers, should be celebrated for 512 years of invasion, cruelty, oppression, and cultural imperialism.

According to the TCDA Web site, the coalition been protesting the Columbus Day parade in Denver since 1989, and calls for the unequivocal abolition of the Columbus Day holiday on a local, state and national level.



Teddye Snell writes for the Tahlequah (Okla.) Daily Press.