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ashley fairbanks
@ziibiing.com

fun fact: in 1992, berkley replaced columbus day with Indigenous Peoples day. then no other city or state did until 2014,when i was a policy aide for Alondra Cano and some friends and i convinced her to pass the resolution in Minneapolis. i got to write it and plan the celebration.

154 reposts862 likes

Rebecca Terk
@rebeccaterk.bsky.social

On October 8th, 1990, South Dakota officially observed its first Native American Day, making it the first state to replace Columbus Day. (Not “Indigenous Peoples Day,” but pretty surprising for a place like SoDak.)

Ryne
@maximumbiichi.bsky.social

Thank you so much for all your hard work and courage. I am a recent transplant to the Twin Cities but I am so so proud to be able to live in this place, and so grateful to you for your part in making it better!!!

Pye
@pyewhite.bsky.social

Proud of you, what you got accomplished, and also proud of being a Minnesotan here where such things are possible.

ashley fairbanks
@ziibiing.com

i got to experience a lot of disgusting racism while whipping votes for it. but getting to work on it, and passing it, felt like the most amazing thing ever. doing something my elders had wanted for decades. it was powerful.

ashley fairbanks
@ziibiing.com

the day we passed it, I didn’t even get to be in the room because it was so full. i cried in the hallway, watching this little girl see it pass, and knowing she’d grow up in a city that didn’t celebrate columbus day.

ashley fairbanks
@ziibiing.com

the first IP day I got to design this poster, which is still one of my favorite things I’ve made. since mpls passed it, over 220 cities have passed similar ones. i used to keep count. history always says berkley did it first, but i get to pipe up and say minneapolis relit the flame.

ashley fairbanks
@ziibiing.com

for a long time i didn’t know how to tell this story. Alondra Cano went on to become one of the worst city council members. some of my friends who helped organize this day became my bosses that sexually harassed my friends and I. who took credit for our work. but i get to write this story.