2 ways to observe Indigenous People’s Day with your family

While some might refer to this upcoming Monday as Columbus Day, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago chooses to recognize the holiday as Indigenous People’s Day instead.

As an anti-racist, multicultural organization, it is our responsibility to situate our communities’ histories in proper context—this requires us to undo the harmful relics of colonialism, educate ourselves and one another, and celebrate the myriad contributions of Native Americans as a living, breathing people.

We invite you and your family to join us in observing Indigenous People’s Day by doing one or both of the following activities:

1. Acknowledge the original stewards of the land you’re on. Native Land Digital, a Canadian nonprofit led by a majority-Indigenous Board, has created an amazing map resource in which users living in the Americas can search, by address, the traditional Indigenous homelands on which they reside.
2. Participate in your local community’s Indigenous People’s Day celebrations. From the Trickster Cultural Center’s Mobile Museum of Tolerance opening in Schaumburg, to the American Indian Center’s 68th Annual Powwow near Irving Park, to the Old Town School of Folk Music’s Indigenous People’s Day Concert in Lincoln Square, there are so many ways to respectfully engage in the diversity of Native American cultural traditions this weekend.

This Indigenous People’s Day and every day, let’s endeavor to learn, reflect, correct harmful narratives, and uplift Native American voices.