Students Honor Native Americans With Vigil on Columbus Day

About 30 people listened to readings, prayers and songs at a quiet vigil promoting alternate interpretations of Columbus Day yesterday evening.

Native Americans at Harvard-Radcliffe (NAHR) organized a candlelight vigil outside Memorial to remember the people whose lives were lost as a result of Columbus' landing and the colonization and conquest that followed.

"Columbus Day is not typically celebrated or revered in the Native community--[a fact that] not many are aware of," said Anthony M. Rodman '02, co-chair of NAHR.

He added that some Native Americans were offended by the celebration of the anniversary, a day which reminds them not only of Columbus but also of more recent anti-Native American policies, such as the 19th-century "Trail of Tears" forced removal of Georgia-area tribes under the Andrew Jackson administration.

This was the first year the event has featured a vigil, which Branch said communicated the essence and promoted awareness of the story of Columbus Day.

In the opening address, Rodman emphasized that the vigil was not in opposition to Columbus as a man or Columbus Day as a holiday, but was an opportunity to express different cultural views.

To broaden the reach of the vigil, the organizers incorporated other groups who were affected by the events Christopher Columbus set in motion.

The Catholic Students Association organized the screening of a documentary following the vigil, "Victor's Path." The film chronicled the life of a healer and Catholic deacon on the Pine Ridge reservation.

Tobias B. Jacoby '00, a member of the Catholic Students Association, described his personal interest in the vigil as "remembering the spirituality and culture of the indigenous people of the Americas."

Several students at the vigil echoed the organizers' desire to raise awareness of non-traditional views about the colonization of America.

Lee-Sean Huang '02 said his experience in studying history typically showed the European view of the colonization of a new land, ignoring the view of the people who already lived there.

After Rodman's opening address, NAHR Co-Chair Ethel B. Branch '01 discussed the events following Columbus' landing in 1492, which affected the religions, languages, ideologies and ways of life of the indigenous peoples.

Participants were then free to contribute their own views to the group, which included readings and the powerful singing of Wesley Ray Thomas.

Thomas, who is part Cherokee and a member of the Boston Lyric Opera, performed a traditional Comanche song, as well as a version of what in English is "Amazing Grace" but was also an anthem of his people when the U.S. government relocated them to Oklahoma.

He said he was drawn to the event by its potential to raise awareness.

"I had to be here," he said.

The vigil was sponsored by NAHR, the Black Students Association, Harvard RAZA and the Catholic Students Association.