Athens City Council voted to suspend the three-reading rule and passed a resolution affirming the City of Athens’ respect for the Indigenous history of the land now known as Athens, Ohio in a unanimous decision during last week’s City Council meeting.
The resolution, which encourages city officials to replace references to Columbus Day with references to Indigenous Peoples’ Day in city business when appropriate, is the latest in a series of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives passed by Council.
The resolution also encourages local organizations to consider adopting land acknowledgments, includes action and commitment to repair relationships with the Tribes that have historically called Athens home. It aims to demonstrate respect for the histories, former tribal lands, place names, large earthworks and environmental values of Indigenous people.
The resolution follows the introduction of similar land acknowledgments by the Athens County Foundation and Ohio University and comes weeks before Indigenous Heritage Month. Micah McCarey, councilmember at-large, said the timeline of these actions are intentional.
“We're approaching Native American History Month, and the city is attempting to walk the talk,” McCarey said. “We're going to do a better job of naming and honoring (Indigenous) history and learning about it … I imagine we'll get more feedback as folks see the city promote use of land acknowledgments as an option. I suppose we're doing that by modeling it ourselves.”
McCarey hopes the recent efforts by the Council will show the city’s commitment to its diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility goals and that other organizations and institutions, like OU, will follow suit with Native American History Month programming.
“We need to do more to educate people about the history of racism, and we need to do more to address racial inequities in our communities,” McCarey said. “We created a racial equity plan, but it's on an ongoing basis, forevermore ideally. How is the city going to regularly demonstrate that it can look at racial histories and realities and their impacts and actively address them?”
Other Council members, such as Councilmember Alan Swank, D-4th ward, hope the resolution is just a starting point for addressing these historical concerns. According to Swank, the language of the legislation and the city's actions must align for the resolution to be meaningful for Athens’ Indigenous community.
“This is a very good thing, but picking up on what member Spjeldnes said, I think it needs some teeth,” Swank said. “As we craft this, and I am in support of crafting this … I think somewhere we need to get the word violent in there, whether it's ‘violent, oppressive history’ or ‘the violent theft of lands’ … some language that really identifies how horrific (the Trail of Tears) was.”
According to the Advance Native Political Leadership website, Swank is among 2.1% of Ohioans who identify as Indigenous.
“If we're going to talk about Indigenous People's Day, then let’s make it a special day,” Swank said. “I think because it is a federal holiday, it should be a holiday here in the city ... If we really want to put teeth in this thing, let's do it. Let's schedule events, and let's make it important.”
Although the city has not yet released official programming for Native American Heritage Month, the Council’s acceptance of the new resolution lays a strong foundation for it to build on in the coming months.
