MA INDIGENOUS
LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
Updates and Action Alerts
ACTION ALERT FOR MA INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY HEARING 9-28-21
ACTION ALERT: There’s a MA Joint Committee on State Administration & Regulatory Oversight hearing coming up on September 28 at 10:30 AM for an important bill from the MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda: H.3191/S.2027 An Act establishing an Indigenous Peoples Day. While some cities and towns across the state have been passing Indigenous Peoples Day resolutions and celebrating the holiday, we really need this statewide bill to pass in order to make it happen everywhere!
Steps you can take now:
- Go to the Action Network link and you will find the text of the bill, an automated letter that you can send to legislators, and also information about how to send your own letter if you do not want to use the automated Action Network letter. Please plan to modify the Action Network letter to tell the legislators why this bill is so important to you — personalization helps a lot! Sending this will only take a few minutes of your time.
- If you want to listen to the hearing on September 28 or sign up to testify, all the information is at the MA Legislature website. Note that there are other bills that will come before the committee that day, and we do not know an exact time when testimony for our bill will be heard. If you are Indigenous and planning to testify, please sign up at the state website before Friday at 4 and also notify info@uaine.org by Thursday for planning purposes. Thank you for your support! Please go to our MA Indigenous Agenda website for information about all 5 of our legislative priorities this session, including eliminating Native American mascots, honoring Indigenous People’s Day, celebrating and teaching Native American culture & history, protecting Native American heritage, and supporting the education and futures of Native youth.
About
We are working to support legislation currently before the Massachusetts State Legislature that will benefit Indigenous Peoples.
Our current Agenda includes five bills in the 2021-2022 session that reflect some of the key concerns within Massachusetts.
From time to time, we will also ask supporters to lend a hand with other legislation in the region and nationally.
The Agenda
These are the bills we are supporting in the 2021-2022 MA legislative session
Replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day to celebrate Indigenous resilience and survival. The change acknowledges the true histories of colonialism, genocide and racism that Native peoples have experienced and continue to face.
Learn more
Ensure Native American funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony held in governmental or non-profit collections are not sold for profit.
Improve educational outcomes and opportunities for American Indian and Alaska Native students.