Statement from Mayor Ballantyne on Somerville’s Observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day

The City of Somerville recognizes it was founded and built upon lands first inhabited by Indigenous Peoples of this region and acknowledges and honors these members of the community.

On Monday, October 10 2022, the City of Somerville will observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day, joining more than a dozen states and over 100 cities nationwide. 
 
We reaffirm the decision to proclaim the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day out of a commitment to the real concerns within native communities. Somerville is the original homeland of the Pawtucket peoples, and we cannot honor without acknowledging the loss and displacement impacting our indigenous communities. Honoring the wisdom tradition of Indigenous Peoples means we share in the responsibility and stewardship for the land and our communities. 
 
For more than eighty years, Columbus Day obscured the suffering of colonization.The world he “discovered” was not new, and his arrival caused a truly staggering amount of pain and tragedy for the people whose home he invaded. Somerville cannot and will not participate in the celebration of a man whose legacy is one of brutality, and whose impact has caused suffering for generations of Indigenous Peoples.
 
Instead, on this day we observe the historic, cultural, and contemporary significance of Indigenous Peoples of the lands that also became known as the Americas. The City of Somerville recognizes it was founded and built upon lands first inhabited by Indigenous Peoples of this region and acknowledges and honors these members of the community. We still have descendants of the first people who populated these lands among us. The City of Somerville values the many contributions made to our community through Indigenous People’s knowledge, labor, technology, science, philosophy, arts, and the deep cultural contribution that has shaped the character of the City.
 
We honor the memory of indigenous peoples when we ensure Native American funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony held in governmental or non-profit collections are not sold for profit.
 
We celebrate Indigenous People’s resilience and survival. We acknowledge the true histories of colonialism, genocide and racism that Native peoples have experienced and continue to face. We truly only replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day when we condemn the silence of murdered and missing women and children lost to residential schools and when we improve the educational outcomes and opportunities for Indigenous peoples.
 
When we remove racist mascots and prohibit Native American mascots in our public schools, we expose the uniform stereotyping of indigenous lives as exotic or less than civilized. Simple depictions of indigenous peoples as those who once lived here, who merely welcomed colonizers. the profit and punishment of displacement, criminalizing indigenous lives in the name of justice."
 
The City of Somerville thanks Chris Spicer and Laura Versari from the Somerville Human Rights Commission, as well as Steven Flythe, Deputy Director of Racial and Social Justice, for sharing their expertise on Indigenous Peoples' Day.