#durham nh

[humanismtoday]

[muso-unh]

BRATFEST4

MUSO's annual Bratfest is back again for its fourth year! Join us in celebrating the contributions women, trans people, and gender non conforming people have made to the arts! There will be music and poetry performed by the artists above! There will also be local artists selling their artwork and a bake sale to benefit the UNH Women's Studies program. This event is free for students and $10 for non students! 

[humanismtoday]

[nhlabornews]

Durham Town Council Votes to Establish Indigenous Peoples' Day 

At last evening’s Durham Town Council meeting, September 18, 2017, following 60 min. of intense discussion, and over an hour of public comment, the Council approved the 2nd Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Durham by a vote of 7 in favor and 2 opposed. Durham, host to UNH, is the 1st community in NH to take such a step.

“After much consideration and reflection regarding the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, the Town Council has come to support this resolution to designate the 2nd Monday in October as “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”  Not only is it appropriate to our local history, but also to recognize and value indigenous people everywhere.  The designation will encourage people to learn more about the legacy of Christopher Columbus and the “Doctrine of Discovery,” while also recognizing the devastating affects of colonialism on indigenous peoples,” stated Town Manager Todd Selig.

History of topic in Durham:

During the Public Comments section of the Town Council meeting on February 6, 2017, Durham resident Neil Ferris spoke about a movement underway to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. He said the New Hampshire State Legislature should join Vermont in this effort, and could use some nudging on this from Durham. He asked that this be placed on the Council’s agenda in the near future.

During the Town Council roundtable discussion at the Town Council meeting on April 17, 2017, Councilor Wayne Burton noted Mr. Ferris’ earlier request and suggested that Administrator Selig bring the request to the Durham Human Rights Commission (HRC) for discussion and then come back to the Council on whether the commission believed this was a viable idea. 

This item was placed on the HRC’s meeting agenda for June 7, 2017 and Mr. Ferris was in attendance. Mr. Ferris said his request was for Durham to replace Columbus Day with an Indigenous Peoples’ Day and also petition the State of New Hampshire to do the same. He felt that if enough communities in New Hampshire were to do this, then the state may be more inclined to follow suit. He noted that efforts should be made to encourage people to become educated about Native Americans and America’s real history and anything that can be done toward this type of effort should be embraced. 

The commission continued its consideration of Mr. Ferris’ request at its meeting on July 26, 2017. Based on the discussion held at that meeting, Mr. Selig said he had given additional thought to other possible solutions besides replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. He offered an alternate name: “The Age of Exploration and Indigenous Peoples’ Day”, that would celebrate both the age of European exploration and the cultures and values of Indigenous Peoples, and to reflect upon the historical offenses against and ongoing struggles of indigenous people. The group discussed this notion further and consensus was to move it forward to the Town Council for its consideration.

The Human Rights Commission met again on September 6, 2017 and reviewed and discussed a draft resolution introduced by Mr. Selig that would have designated the second Monday in October as “The Age of Exploration and Indigenous Peoples’ Day” in Durham. Some amended language was offered by members of the group and this language has been incorporated into a draft resolution for the Council’s review and consideration on Monday evening, September 11, 2017, at the Town Council meeting.  

On Monday evening, September 18, 2017, the Council ultimately chose to call the day, simply, “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” 

To our knowledge, Durham is the first community in New Hampshire to establish the 2nd Monday in October as a day that recognizes Indigenous Peoples in addition to European exploration in the Americas.  A growing number of states and communities have taken such as step in recent years to include Los Angeles, Vermont, Denver, Phoenix, Seattle, Minneapolis, Albuquerque, and Bangor.  

Durham Town Council Votes to Establish Indigenous Peoples’ Day  was originally published on NH LABOR NEWS

[saxbys]

Thank you again to Durham and the University of New Hampshire for giving us such an amazing welcome. Together 

[muso-unh]

TOMORROW NIGHT! Come learn about aliens and UFOs with nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman. This event is free and open to the public! Make sure to invite your friends. 

Facebook event page here 

[jamht1972]

[pretendingtoknowthings]