Alongside hundreds of cities and several states, Phoenix will recognize Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day on Monday.

Phoenix officially recognized Indigenous Peoples Day in 2016, when the City Council voted 9-0 to establish the day as an annual city commemoration event. That doesn't create an official city holiday nor replace Columbus Day.

Wisconsin is the latest state to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day. Phoenix was part of a wave a few years earlier. But has Indigenous Peoples Day brought any type of change to Phoenix?

For some local Indigenous people, the past three years haven't seen any change in terms of state and tribal relationships, but they noticed an increase in the visibility of Indigenous communities among non-Indigenous people.

For Laura Medina, an organizer with Indigenous Peoples Day Arizona (IPDAZ), the remaining issue is the lack of progressive change between state and tribal relationships. She believes there is a way to honor Indigenous people where issues impacting Indigenous communities are actually addressed.

Medina said IPDAZ was not part of the legislative process that got Indigenous Peoples Day recognized by Phoenix, but they do support the effort by hosting an event in honor on the day since 2015 when the organization was founded. IPDAZ started as a grassroots organization with the goal, "to raise awareness in relation to the national Indigenous movement to abolish Columbus Day and replace with the more friendly and accurate Indigenous Peoples Day," according to their website.

"It's very important to acknowledge Indigenous peoples because we're correcting history," Medina said. "Columbus wasn't a good guy and we feel that a government should not be celebrating a person like that."

"As Indigenous people, we've never gone anywhere, we've never disappeared," she added. "We have always maintained who we are even though our traditions and culture suffered from colonization, we have never lost it."

As more cities and states recognize Indigenous Peoples Day, Medina said more regional and national attention has been brought to issues impacting Indigenous communities.

"It really brings Indigenous issues to the forefront and I do think our communities are seeing that as well," Medina said.

Indigenous people and allies have been a lot more responsive to issues pertaining to conversations surrounding decolonization, resurgence, honoring roots and ancestral ways as well as dismantling stereotypes, she added.

The organization will host its fifth Indigenous Peoples Day celebration on Monday, and the theme this year is "Going Full Circle." It will feature workshops, cultural performance, food and a march that starts from ASU's Downtown Phoenix Campus to the Puente Human Rights Movement headquarters. The march will start at 11 a.m. from the ASU post office, and the event will take place from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 1937 W. Adams St.

Medina said naming the day after Indigenous people rather than Native American Day or American Indian Day is "really addressing the global problem with colonization." Naming it Indigenous Peoples Day allows people to recognize not only Indigenous communities from the United States but also First Nations in Canada and Indigenous communities in Mexico, she added.

Before Indigenous Peoples Day became official in Phoenix, there had been celebrations through the Phoenix area in honor of Indigenous communities.

One of the longest-running efforts is Native American Recognition Days, which has been collaborating since the 1980s. Native American Recognition Days have been around for 37 years, said Patricia Hibbeler, the CEO of the Phoenix Indian Center.

The events started when several Native American communities in Phoenix came together in 1982 to host a community dinner as a way to celebrate the accomplishments of local Native American leaders as well as share their culture with non-Native people in the Valley, Hibbeler said.

"That's really the emphasis of Native American Recognition Days, which now lasts two months in the entire month of October and November," Hibbeler said. "It's our way the beauty of our culture and to build those bridges with non-Native people."

Hibbeler said the Phoenix Indian Center did get involved with the movement to get Indigenous Peoples Day officially recognized by Phoenix.

"The emphasis on the movement here in Phoenix has really helped to bring more awareness to American Indians," Hibbeler said. "It's a way to bring more awareness about the inappropriate treatment from Columbus to Indigenous People and to bring more respect to celebrate the Indigenous cultures."

The visibility alone has made some impact throughout the Valley.

"The most impact is the education and visibility in the Valley," Arizona State University American Indian Studies Assistant Professor Cheryl L. Bennett. "It's celebrating our culture, our history, our sovereignty, our tradition and I think it's definitely a step in the right direction and I think the city has a long way to go and the state has a long way to go in terms of respecting tribes and respecting Native people."

Hibbeler agrees there hasn't been a lot of state and tribal relationship changes in recent years, but she hopes that as a community they can come together to get Indigenous Peoples Day passed at the state level.

"City of Phoenix is just one city in this entire state, but if we can get it passed at the state level and really begin to create awareness and movement at that level, that's when you'll see the impact be greater," she said. "I still think it has a long way to go, but it's on the right trajectory."

Ways to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day

There are several celebrations happening Monday in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day. Many of them are free and open to the public.

Phoenix Art Museum

The Phoenix Art Museum is hosting an Indigenous Peoples Day event that features Navajo Textile Artist Velma Kee Craig giving a lesson on weaving techniques. Attendees will also get to listen to poetry readings with several Native artists.

The event will be held at the Phoenix Art Museum on 1625 N. Central Ave. from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m Monday. It is free for museum members and included with general museum admission.

RISE: Indigenous Peoples Day Poster Show

The "RISE: Indigenous Peoples Day Poster Show", taking place at Evolve Gallery on Monday evening is being organized by IndigeDesign Collab as part of Phoenix Design week and it will feature poster designs by Indigenous designers.

Designers were allowed to submit posters with themes related to cultural identity, place-keeping, decolonization, resilience, and missing and murdered indigenous women. They also had to include the words Indigenous Peoples Day in their design.

"We're creating our own narrative on what design means for indigenous people," said IndigeDesign Collab Founder Eunique Yazzie. "We (Indigenous people) have our culture and our traditions but we're also living in the modern-day and we're trying to show that."

Thirty poster designs were submitted and all of them will be on display at the event.

The exhibit will be open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday at Evolve Gallery on 918 N. Second St. Attendees will also get to see a dance performance by Lady Yazzie, live music by Randy Kemp, and a pop-up show by the H.E.R. Medicine Collective.

Documentary screening

Another event happening is a screening of the documentary "Agave: The Spirit of a Nation" at Pigtails Cocktail Bar on 21001 N. Tatum Blvd.

The documentary highlights how families in Mexico have been passing down the tradition of distilling the agave plant for mezcal and tequila for generations. The documentary gives viewers an inside look at the family's that produce their spirits in the mountains of Oaxaca to the highlands of Jalisco.

Mezcal Carreño, Maestro Dobel & other agave brands will be available for attendees for sampling prior to the film. This free event takes place on Monday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Reporter Shondiin Silversmith covers Indigenous people and communities in Arizona. Reach her at ssilversmi@arizonarepublic.com and follow her Twitter @DiinSilversmith.

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