On Monday, the city of Tempe will celebrate Indigenous People’s Day after the council declared it an official, paid city holiday last month.
Tempe joins Phoenix, Los Angeles and other cities around the country in replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day on the second Monday of October. Meanwhile, the state of Arizona still recognizes Columbus Day, not Indigenous People's Day.
Indigenous People's Day acknowledges and honors Indigenous culture and history. While Columbus Day has been a federal holiday since 1968, Indigenous People’s Day traces its roots back to Berkeley, California in 1992.
The city of Tempe said it hopes the passing of the holiday will lead to a “more inclusive and culturally diverse community” in a press release from September.
“We are supportive and want to acknowledge all different backgrounds and diversities,” Tempe city councilmember Doreen Garlid said. “This being done in Tempe isn’t a surprise. It's just another way that we are acknowledging the importance of a diverse community.”
Garlid, who was elected to her first term on the Tempe City Council in 2020 and is a member of the Navajo Nation, introduced the holiday and was one of the leading figures in its passing. She claimed that the holiday’s passing was the right thing to do and its passing is emotional for her.
“It gives voice to our past, and it gives hope to our future,” Garlid said. “I picture my mom, I picture my grandmother, my grandfather, who was a (Navajo) codetalker, I picture what our ancestors did when they did the long walk, I picture how strong they were and that’s what gets me emotional."
At ASU, student-led organizations like The Alliance of Indigenous Peoples praised the city holiday's passing in a written statement.
“Recognizing Indigenous Peoples' Day in Tempe is undoubtedly a step toward becoming a more inclusive and culturally diverse environment," said Leon Poitra III, the facilitator of assembly for the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples and a student studying organizational leadership.
Christopher Sharp, clinical assistant professor and director of the Office of American Indian Projects at ASU, highlighted how ASU’s Tempe campus is home to Indigenous heritage.
“There are many cultural sites within the city of Tempe that are available to see, I think of A mountain, they have rock art there,” Sharp said. “There's a little place where they did rock art, rock paintings, and that tells the story of the people and was established as a sacred site.”
Sharp, a citizen of the Colorado River Indian Tribes and of the Mohave People, said he helped research Arizona’s missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and said the research was important to raise awareness of a critical issue that directly affects the community.
“The challenge with that is there weren't any funds dedicated towards it. So the team actually did it pro bono for the legislative committee. Our indigenous study took about a year as well,” Sharp said. “We wanted to do that because we took our time because it's such a sensitive topic.”
Sharp, AIP and Garlid hope that the passage of the holiday will raise awareness of the impact and cultural significance of Arizona’s Indigenous community.
"To be honest, what it replaced with Columbus Day, I hope that people will continue to want to learn and understand why it's here," Garlid said.
Edited by Shane Brennan, Jasmine Kabiri and Angelina Steel.
Reach the reporter at gnavar10@asu.edu and follow @GhadielN on X.
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