A bill for an ordinance designating the second Monday of October of each year as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Approves an ordinance designating the second Monday of October of each year as Indigenous Peoples Day. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 9-14-16.
Okay. Thank you, Councilman. Now, can we bring up Council Bill 801? And Councilman Clark, will you put will you put council will 801 on the floor for passage? Thank you, Mr. President. I move that council bill 801 be placed upon final consideration and do pass. Thank you. It has been moved and said Councilman Lopez. Thank you, Mr. President. I, I wanted to call this bill out because it's not like the others. Normally, in a block vote, these are routine bills and resolutions at that. Move, move forward. What is this council bill? You know, one is not necessarily routine. And I wanted to call this out because this is an important marker, this important milestone in our history as a city council bill. You know, one is an ordinance designating the second Monday of October of each year as Indigenous Peoples Day. And this is in perpetuity unless and this is an ordinance. Last year we had a proclamation and that proclamation and in our proclamations they're non-binding, although we proclaim and as a city council, we, we, we vote on it and we proclaim and they're very celebratory in nature, which does not take away from last year, which I think was incredible. It was a very important step. It was unanimous and it was received with a great deal of love and and gratitude. And we were honored. And I think I could speak for the majority of council that day. This is a tremendous honor that we felt in our community and our council right here. Being here and hearing the prayers and having the people here is was beautiful. So this particular bill approves this ordinance, and this is the first time. In Denver's history. That we will have a Denver an indigenous people stay. And we did this because our community. Is important. Our city owes our very founding. To the indigenous peoples in Denver. And I do this because our history books erase such history. And history is told through the eyes of the victor. And when you look at history, when you study history, when someone talks about the history of Denver, it always begins with the gold rush. And how it was subtle. Bye bye. Settlers and folks heading west looking for gold along the confluence of the Platt and Cherry Creek. And I was going to say this earlier with the Platte River and the importance of the Platte River and what that means when we honor the Platte River and when we're trying to rehab that Platte River and bring it back to life and not let it be something where we dump things in. But something that we celebrate is because that very confluence of that Platte River and Cherry Creek is where our city was founded. And it was founded by the Arapaho and Cheyenne people. That's where their camp, their seasonal encampments were. That's why it was on the map that way. That's why it was a great place to build a city. So we owe it. To the founders of our city. The true founders of our city. Our history, we owe them. But we also know that in the course of history, especially as folks pushed westward, that there had been. A. Forced removal. Of historic discrimination and violence. And I'll read this. Whereas for as the seasonal encampments where the city and county never hereby recognizes the historic discrimination and violence inflicted upon indigenous peoples throughout the Americas and the subsequent forced removal from ancestral lands. And the deliberate and systematic destruction of indigenous peoples, communities and culture resulting in high poverty rates. Disparities in education, health and socioeconomic status. And. Whereas, we as a city recognize that. And that is very important for us as a society, as we recognize our wrongdoings. We recognize is we recognize where where we went wrong. And it's not an empty apology. It's not. Or we'll name a team after you. War mascot will be. An Indigenous person. That's not the way you want it. You want it by making it no longer invisible. That history is no longer invisible. But that history is not just no longer invisible in our communities, but in our textbooks. So, you know, I know that as we move forward, this is something we hope that DPS will take up. Begin to teach. And. We want to recognize that there's also vast contributions in that education as we look forward towards the future. And that's the science, the knowledge, the philosophy, the arts, the culture. And through these contributions, our city has developed. Our state is developed. We do this not in opposition of anything. Not in spite of anything. We do this for. Our community and our city in support of our community. In our city. Support of that that indigenous culture. And I could proudly say that today. Was the first day. Now we do so. And in saying that, I want to acknowledge and recognize our our American Indian Commission. I mean, Goa was here. I mean, we're flying. Arthur received it last time, you know, for for working with me on this and going back and forth, our city attorney or assistant city attorney, David Broadwell, my staff, our community, our city staff, but most importantly and above anything else, our community. This isn't something that was just thought of this last year. This struggle has been going on for four decades. It's taken marches in the street just to be seen. It's taken civil action. It's taken civil disobedience. As a matter of fact, I sat in the same pews as we were being arraigned for what we believed. What we wanted to honor and see in the B.C.. And now it feels good to be opposite. To be able to have this bill in front of us. And, you know, to be able to read this and vote on this not as a bloc, but it's independent vote. And I want to save some of the umph for next. Monday on the 10th. Although this bill is being voted on today. And I hope my colleagues will vote to move it forward, to pass it on final adoption. But on next Monday, the 10th, we will have a proclamation celebrating our first Indigenous Peoples Day officially in Denver, Colorado. So with that, I. I support this bill moving forward, Mr. President. And I would be honored if my colleagues join me in a yes vote to making this become law. Well said, Councilman Lopez, Councilwoman Canete. Thank you, Mr. President. I spoke in support of this at committee. And once again, just wanted to thank Councilman Lopez for this important proclamation of our intention as a city to change how we honor this state. And I really especially think that it's important, not just in terms of recognizing history going backwards, but also to have more attention on Native issues moving forward, disparities, whether those be in terms of income, employment or homelessness in our city so that we just like the earlier proclamation. Think of this as a call to action. And just I can't help but note that it's special, I think, to have the Hispanic Heritage Proclamation on the same day as this . These are two distinct cultures, but they come together in mestizo and the mestizo space of of of Latin and and and indigenous peoples who are sometimes melded in their backgrounds. So. So I think that this is a fitting combination to have these tonight. And I will be happily voting in support of this. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Espinosa, I saw you click in. I did, but I. I'll reserve my comments. Okay, great. We have. Let's see. No other comments. Councilman Ortega. Sorry, is shown on my screen. I'm not sure why it's not on yours. Thank you. I just wanted to make a few brief comments as well and thank Councilman Lopez for his efforts in working with the community to bring this forward. And I know this is something that has been in the works for a very long time. So thank you for your efforts. I just. Think that it's important also to mention the role that our Native American community played in. You heard me talk about DIA earlier. When we were moving forward with the construction of the highway, one of the things that happened was we worked with some of the tribal leaders to do a ground blessing on the site. As you all know, that used to be part of the old Sand Creek Massacre corridor. And I thought it was extremely important for Denver to do that. And the interesting thing about the event was the media wanted to know when and where it was going to take place. And I worked with Mayor Webb at the time to ensure that that happened. I didn't attend it. We made sure the media didn't know when and where it was because it was, you know, a very traditional sacred event that needed to take place and to, you know, pray for the lives of of the souls who were lost in that massacre. The other thing that Councilman Lopez talked about was the the history of where Denver started. It started with our Native American community right at the at the core of the Confluence Park. The city acknowledges that to the degree of seeing a number of the the parks, I mean, not the parks, but the roads down in the lower downtown and platte valley area named after some of the tribal leaders. We want to wynkoop a little raven. I remember when the naming of little raven was being proposed. Our public works department was recommending that that be called 29th Street. And I just you know, I was the councilperson of the district at the time. And I said, how do we make these decisions about what streets, what we're naming our streets? And I said, What other names did you look at? And they mentioned Little Raven. And this was when they were bringing through the committee process to do the official naming. And I said, I want it named Little Raven. And so when when that official, you know, name was put up on the street, we actually had some of the tribal leaders from the Cheyenne tribe there, and they actually were given a street sign that they were able to take and put up on display in their community. So just being part of so many of the things that have happened in this city is exciting. I worked at the state capitol when the Commission in Indian Affairs was created in George Brown's office. The lieutenant governors, it's been part of that office. I worked there and had the benefit of going to a peace treaty signing ceremony between the U.S. and the Comanches, who had been at war with each other for for 100 years. And a lot of these things, as Councilman Lopez said, are not written in our history books. You know, you in and one of the things that's occurring and those of you who have not taken the time to talk to your elders and record some of the history so that you pass it on to, you know, our children is is so important. I know in in New Mexico on some of the reservations, there are people actually doing filming, too, now of some of the elders to make sure that that history is documented and passed on, because it isn't translated in many of the history books you get in your public education system. So I again, just am happy to support this and again commend Councilman Lopez for his efforts in our Indian commission and the work that you all have done with our entire entire community. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Lopez, I see you back up. Yeah. You know, I wanted to really emphasize the 10th, Monday, the 10th and proclamation that will be here in the quarters we'd love for. And I wanted to make sure the community because we do have community folks, I want to make sure that we come back on the 10th because we would like to give not only the proclamation, but a copy of the bill over. Right. And and ceremoniously and also just for the community. I know this Saturday I didn't mention this, but the Saturday is going to be, in addition to all the events, a rally at the Capitol at 1130. I mean, 130, 130. You mean marches coming from all over the city and they're going to be here. Good celebration of all directions, all nations. And that that's really when you when you look at the what it really means is all directions all nations for went. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Lopez. Madam Secretary. Raquel Lopez. Hi. New Ortega I Black High Clerk by Espinosa. By. Flynn. Hi Gilmore I Herndon in Cashman. I can eat. Mr. President. I please close voting in US results. 12 eyes. 12 eyes conceal. 801 passes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You don't get many claps for votes anymore. Thank you. All right. We are moving to the Bloc votes. All other bills for introductions are now ordered published. Councilman, clerk, will you please put the resolutions for adoption and the bills for final considerations? Consideration for final passage on the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that resolutions be adopted and bills on final consideration be placed upon final consideration, and do pass in a block for the following items. 539 811 816. 812. 813. 814. 820. 821. 822. 800. 815. Eight 1724. 761 797. All right. It has been moved. And second, it councilmembers. Please remember that this is a consent or block vote and you will need to vote I or otherwise. This is your last chance to call out an item for a separate vote. Madam Secretary, roll call. Black. I Clark. II. Espinosa, i Flynn, i Gilmore. I Herndon I Cashman. I can eat. I knew. I. Ortega, I. Mr. President. I. Please close the voting. Announce a results. 11 Eyes. 11 Eyes. The resolution resolutions have been adopted and bills have been placed on final consideration and do pass. Tonight there will be a required public hearing for Council Bill 430 Changes on a classification of four Geneva Court and Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard.