From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Denver: Columbus Day Parade Cancelled
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 02:36:09 GMT

/** native.1492: 224.0 **/
** Topic: Columbus Day Parade Cancelled **
** Written 12:35 pm  Oct 11, 1992 by postmaster@scicom in cdp:native.1492 **
Original-Sender: csn.org!scicom!postmaster (Michele)

From: milo@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Michele Lord)

    It was a good day in Denver.  The Italian-American
Federation cancelled the Columbus Day Parade. When word was
brought by the Parade representative, Russell Means was
momentarily speechless and moved to tears. He said, 'I am
extremely elated the the federation has chosen the moral high
ground. All the judges and politicians can go to hell.' The
power of the people and a sense of justice had done what the
politicians and courts had refused to do.
    The day started with a sunrise ceremony attended by close
to a thousand people committed to stopping the parade. People
from groups as diverse as The New Jewish Agenda, the Nation of
Islam and the American Friends Service Committee silently
prepared themselves for a day the media, the politicians, and
the police was sure to hold violence and injuries along with many
arrests.
    After the ceremony, speakers from AIM (American Indian Movement)
spoke at the amphitheatre in Civic Center Park. They spoke of
commitment to non- violence, their thankfulness for the representation
of all the races and the need to stand together against oppression,
racism and genocide.
    A few minutes before the parade was to start and the
demonstrators were to block the street the word was received.
Already, the majority of the groups in the Columbus Day Parade had
cancelled. The parade had maybe a hundred people and one float. The
police and members of the press far outnumbered the parade participants.
   The Italian-American Federation asked for permission to march the
couple of blocks to the State Capital steps for a small rally in
place of their parade. Permission was granted but not until after the
victory parade led by Russell Means and the Elders and leaders of the
demonstration. Our Victory Parade wound around Civic Center Park through
the display of 90 burned out tepees erected the night before as a
memorial to the hundreds of massacres of Native Americans.
   The cancellation of the parade was victory. But we were reminded
by speakers that it will be a hollow victory if we do not continue
to demand the end of Columbus Day as a national holiday. We must
continue to work for reconciliation between the races and the end
of government oppression that attempts to hide genocide and the
destruction of the Earth.
    In the afternoon a victory pow-wow was held at the Tall Bull
Memorial Grounds south of Denver. It was a good day.

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          Michele Lord               *  Walk in Peace with
      milo@scicom.alphacdc.com       *  our Mother Earth
                                     *  and our Father Sky.
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