A Salem grassroots organization will host its 6th Annual Indigenous Peoples Day celebration on Monday, Oct. 9, at Riverfront Park.
The holiday recognizes the legacy of Native Americans, who have lived in North America for tens of thousands of years with deep roots in Oregon, as well as the history of colonialism and its devastation on Native communities.
The day is also intended to bring people together to celebrate Native culture.
Hosted by Salem-based nonprofit Indigenous Now, the free event Monday will take place at the Gerry Frank Salem Rotary Amphitheater from 1-6 p.m.
The event’s theme remains unchanged from the previous four years – ”resistance is existence,” according to organizer Hannah Shooting Bear, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
The reason, she said, is because the Salem area has seen no changes to the lack of diversity and inclusion in local government and schools.
“Our resistance is always going to exist because we’re always fighting for something – fighting for our people, our water, our land,” Shooting Bear told Salem Reporter. “It’s fighting for Mother Earth, keeping her clean and keeping her for future generations.”
The event will feature a variety of Indigenous performers, from a returning flute player to “tiny tot” dancers ages 5 and under. Guest speakers, including the chair of the Yakama Nation, will discuss the event’s theme from their points of view.
There will also be 19 vendors at the event, about 10 more than last year. New vendors include Bridgeway Recovery Services, the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency and Salem Health, who will inform Indigenous people in the Salem area about the resources they provide.
There will also be a table dedicated to activities for children, including making corn husk dolls and face painting.
Shooting Bear said the addition of the children’s table has amplified the help needed to put on the event. There are currently around a dozen volunteers, while last year’s event had 27.
Indigenous Now is seeking more volunteers as well as donated red shirts and dresses for an interactive display, to which people can add the names of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives.
In 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, according to the National Crime Information Center.
When Shooting Bear heard recently that a group had been wearing red and demonstrating outside Washington’s capitol building, she went solo to the Oregon State Capitol with a sign in support of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
“Even though it was by myself, I still want to make people aware that this is happening,” she said.
The bodies of at least five such women have been found within the past year submerged in landfills in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, according to reporting from The Guardian. Canadian officials have since refused to search the landfill for more potential victims.
“That tells you that people have no respect, no dignity for a human being to be thrown in a landfill,” Shooting Bear said.
Meanwhile in Oregon, Indigenous people continue to face barriers to basic human rights, Shooting Bear said.
Underground pipes on the Warm Springs Reservation have repeatedly failed in recent years, prompting boil water notices. Some have lasted weeks and forced residents to pick up plastic jugs of water from the reservation’s emergency services center, according to reporting from the Bulletin.
The news organization reported in May that it would cost tens of millions of dollars to replace the pipeline, which tribal officials have been seeking money for since 2017.
“Being in genocide and colonized all my life, now it’s time to fight back and educate people on us,” Shooting Bear said. “But it’s sad, because you’ve only got one day out of a whole year to do this.”
The day before the event, Indigenous Now will also be holding a sign-waving rally on Sunday, Oct. 8, outside the Salem-Keizer School District’s office at 2450 Lancaster Dr. N.E.
Shooting Bear said the group has been urging school district and state officials for three years to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day as a paid holiday for their employees. The day has been a state-recognized holiday since 2021, but most state government offices remain open and employees at work.
Making the day a paid holiday would allow students, teachers and other community members to take part in Indigenous activities and celebrations while learning about the history and legacy of Native Americans, she said.
“To authentically honor Indigenous Peoples and this day, there needs to be no barriers to opportunities for awareness, education, mourning, healing or community gathering,” the group wrote in a recent letter to Gov. Tina Kotek.
Kotek’s office did not respond to an email seeking comment Friday.
Shooting Bear said while it’s a work in progress, she is still hopeful that Indigenous Peoples Day will eventually be designated as a paid holiday in Oregon.
“It gets overwhelming for some people,” she said. “But when you have that compassion and that heart, you just keep moving forward. Keep moving forward, regardless of the barriers, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m slowly breaking barriers.”
Shooting Bear plans to start teaching cultural classes through Indigenous Now to educate students who don’t take part in the Salem-Keizer School District’s Native Education Program.
“My vision for our native and Indigenous students or children is to be proud of who they are,” she said.
She said she’s had people approach her at previous Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations with “eyes as big as saucers,” telling her they had never learned about the history of Native Americans and their treaties with the federal government in school.
“It’s planting seeds,” she said. “We are the protectors and caregivers of this land. We were chosen to do that, and that’s why we’re fighting constantly for it.”
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
