Bigots Weep As Oklahoma Town Murders Christopher Columbus

If only they'd built a YOOGE classy wall to keep Columbus out

Congrats to Anadarko, Oklahoma (population 6,762), the first municipality in that state to celebrate today as Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of Columbus Day, thanks to a City Council resolution passed unanimously in September. The proclamation was formally signed by Mayor Kyle Eastwood, who was joined by members and tribal leaders from at least four Native American tribes for the ceremony. It's a pretty big deal for Anadarko, which promotes itself as "Indian Capital of the Nation"; the town's population is roughly evenly split between Native Americans and Caucasians. In a separate, informal ceremony on Tumblr, that dick Christopher Columbus was dismissed with a "Bye, Felicia" picture.

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Among other points, the proclamation acknowledged the stuff you might expect, like noting that the town was "built upon the homelands and villages of the Indigenous Peoples of this region" and celebrating "many contributions" of Native Americans to the community. But then it goes a step further and dedicates the city government to "opposing systemic racism towards Indigenous people," acknowledging that it "perpetuates high rates of poverty and income inequality." It even calls for "closing the equity gap" for Native Americans. Sounds like Anadarko is full of those wonderful embattled Oklahoma progressives that Yr Editrix profiled a while back.

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Also rather cool is the fact that the proposal started with the executive director of the Anadarko Chamber of Commerce, David Scott, a member of the Choctaw Nation. Yes, that's a Chamber of Commerce head pushing a progressive idea. Go figure. Maybe Anadarko is one of those gravity vortexes. Mayor Eastwood said that the reaction to the resolution had been overwhelmingly positive: "I’ve heard a lot of 'It’s about time.'"

Anadarko is one of at least eight cities that chose this year to drop Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples' Day. Some of them aren't too surprising (what we're saying is, they're hotbeds of liberalism):  Portland, Oregon; Albuquerque, New Mexico; St. Paul, Minnesota (which is a year behind Minneapolis); and Olympia, Washington ( Seattle adopted the holiday last year as well). But then you've got some progressive outposts in Redstate America adopting the holiday, too, like Bexar County, Texas. Local activists want to push for San Antonio next. College town lefties in Lawrence, Kansas, also decided that there was nothing the matter with them; while the liberal media say the change was pushed by "students from Haskell University," we bet it's also a lingering after-effect of the great Wonk Your Brains Out Orgy and World Tour hitting town just two short years ago.

Back in Oklahoma, Anadarko is also way ahead of Oklahoma City, where a resolution to adopt Indigenous Peoples' Day failed in a tie vote last week; the backers plan to go right ahead and re-introduce the resolution Tuesday, because that is the way activists do.

Finally, would you believe that this is actually the second time Anadarko has been covered by Yr Wonkette? In a WND column last year, idiot rightwinger Dennis Prager seized on an important fact about the town to whitesplain that there was no need to change the name of the Washington NFL team, since even Indian folks are just fine with that word. As proof, he offered this:

Since 1947, there has been a movie theater, the Redskins Theatre (with the same logo as the football team), in Anadarko, Oklahoma, a city whose population is divided evenly between Indians and whites, and which calls itself the “Indian Capital of the Nation.” Why, in 67 years, have the Indian populations of Anadarko and Oklahoma not changed this theater’s name?

Because the left hadn’t made it an issue. It’s not an Indian issue; it’s a left-wing issue.

First off, it's the Redskin Theater, not Redskins, which would be grammatically unlikely. And for all we know, maybe the lack of hullaballoo has more to do with the town being tiny, or perhaps the owners of the theater ignored calls, if any, to change the name? Or perhaps -- and this is just a guess -- local Native Americans embrace it as a bit of cheesy local awfulness, because when a multimillion-dollar franchise isn't involved, it's easier to laugh off, something like the popularity of the 1964 John Ford Western Cheyenne Autumn with Navajo people. For years, drive-in movie theaters on the Navajo reservation were packed whenever they showed Cheyenne Autumn , because the Navajo extras playing the "Cheyennes" were told to just say anything they wanted for "dialogue"; the scripted parts would be handled by English subtitles. The subtitles have the "Cheyennes" negotiating a treaty with an American colonel, but the actors, riffing in Navajo, are actually making jokes about the officer's tiny penis.

There's probably a lesson in there for the shrinking popularity of Columbus Day, we'll bet.

[ Red Dirt Report via Newsiosity / U.S. Uncut / Red Dirt Report again]