Indigenous People’s day, a tradition that celebrates the presence of indigenous people around the world, was celebrated Oct. 10 on campus with an assembly.
Keynote speaker Sarah Wheelock is the first Indigenous woman to serve on the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Sophomores Angel Sia and Julia Taylor opened the event; they spoke about their own connections to their indigenous roots, sharing photos, popular foods, and getting the audience engaged by teaching a few words in their native languages.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a day to respect Native Americans and their resilience and contributions to American Society. Ever since Europeans touched foot in America, Native Americans have faced assimilation, discrimination, and genocide spanning generations. Columbus Day, a federal holiday since 1922, has been adapted to IDP in many states, including Minnesota since the first Minnesota celebration in 2016; then, Gov. Tim Walz made it official in 2019 and signs the proclamation every year.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day provides an alternative view from Columbus Day. Columbus arrived on Caribbean islands and explored the Central and South American coasts but never reached North America. He implemented forced labor policies in the Americas, putting Natives to work for profit. That was just one of the many troubles brought to Indigenous people.
Sia, a Yupik native who grew up in a small town in Alaska, has been celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day for as long as she can remember. She said, “Columbus Day was not a thing.”
Taylor, mixed partly with Seminole, Creek, and Ojibwe ancestry, said, “It’s just really sad what happened, and what he was for isn’t something to be celebrated. But the people who were here first should be celebrated.”
Many states have picked up Indigenous People’s day, with the first being South Dakota. And last year Biden was the first president to recognize it officially. However, it is yet to become a federal holiday.
Wheelock opened her time talking to the community by reiterating the point that the day is about native culture today. She shared a video of a rapper who incorporates pop culture and native culture into his work, then suggested books to read and resources to self-educate.
From there, she moved to a Q&A session facilitated by Maya Coates Cush and Milkii Tigro, who asked questions collected from the student body prior to the assembly.

Wheelock is a judge on Minnesota’s court of appeals. She was appointed to court on Dec. 1, 2021, by Governor Tim Waltz and assumed office on Jan. 10, 2022. She is currently the only Indigenous person in her court.

The assembly started with the intercultural club introducing Angel and Julia. The two sophomores prepared a simple slideshow introducing various aspects of their tribes’ cultures and some cute pictures of their younger selves.

“After a few classes about a dark, sad, and unfortunate native history, you’re on to the next. Do you see why there’s a problem with that? A problem with ending our Native American history with death and defeat while people like Angel and I are still living,” Julia said, at the beginning of their presentation, “So in today’s assembly, after recognizing the genocide of our people, the native people, we will now recognize the traditions and culture we still practice today.” This message set the tone for the entire assembly as both the sophomores and Judge Wheelock heavily emphasized the presence of Indigenous people in modern-day America.

Julia introduced pow-wows, cultural gatherings of Indigenous people involving feasting, dancing, music, and other festivities. Some are more formal with Regalias, and some can be more casual. Pow-wows can take place in many places, such as a school gym or outdoors.

They also talked about clothes. Julia showed a picture of her in a Jingle Dress her Tia made by hand that she wore to a Pow-Wow. “You can basically come in with whatever clothes you’re wearing, but as long as you are together as a community, that’s what makes it a pow-wow,” Julia said. She also showed some of her Native Barrettes, some of which she was wearing.

Angel talked about the food of the Yupik tribe. Yupik food involves a lot of fish, and Yupik people eat almost every part of the animal they catch, so they eat the head, the tail, the eggs, the heart, etc.

Lastly, they shared some of their languages. Angel had everyone in the auditorium repeat after reciting the Yupik alphabet. She taught short phrases such as “Waqaa!” (Wah-Kah), meaning “Hello!” and “Cangaachit?” (Jung-ah-chit), meaning “How are you?”. Julia told a story about how the term “Nanaboozhoo,” meaning “Hello” in Ojibwe, was created. She also taught some other short phrases.

After Julia and Angel finished their fun presentation, Sarah Wheelock took the stage. Firstly, she reminded everyone that Indigenous people are still here. She then shared some of Supaman’s music, which combined aspects of his culture with modern-day culture. Throughout her presentation, Judge Wheelock encouraged everyone to be curious about Indigenous topics and do their research. She introduced many books, authors, and sources to learn more about Indigenous people and history.

Proceeding with her slideshow, Members of the intercultural club took the stage to ask the judge some questions. These questions encompassed her position as a judge, native culture, and the issues Indigenous people face.

One of the questions asked was, “In what ways could or do tribal and legal systems work together to reduce crimes against Native women?” Judge Wheelock said, “I think that one of the problems is that they don’t work together very well. And, there should be more communication between those systems.” She shared that this was a personal matter because her cousin went missing in 2014, and they are still searching for her. As native women, she and others are much more likely to experience things such as early death, diabetes, heart disease, and many crimes. Some of those are sexual assault, rape, and murder. Judge Wheelock believes that all levels of the government must work together to solve this issue and that the government must spread more information about missing or harmed people more quickly.

Another question that intercultural club representatives asked was, “What do you want the SPA community to take away from this assembly?” In response, Judge Wheelock said, “Part of moving society toward a place where we have a better understanding and respect for all people is knowing that it is our individual responsibility to learn, to ask questions, and to choose to be respectful.” She shared that there are many instances of people making disrespectful comments. “You wouldn’t believe that things like this still happen today, but yes, people ask if they can touch my hair,” She said.

Following the interview, the assembly wrapped up. Students and faculty were dismissed to continue with their typical school day. Resources were shared with faculty, including the slideshow Wheelock presented, and a number of the books she recommended are on display and available for check out in the library.