Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2020-11-16
Attendance
Christopher Cinella ; Jack Eccles ; Mark Garipay ; Jen Grigoraitis ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Shawn M. MacMaster ; Jeff McNaught ; Leila Migliorelli ; Robb Stewart ; Cory Thomas ; John N. Tramontozzi
Agenda
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CALENDAR● NOVEMBER 16, 2020 Web-based remote meeting Committee Meeting 7:15 PM , Melrose, MA 02176 The public should take notice that the Melrose City Council may, on certain occasions, have a quorum in attendance due to standing committees of the City Council consisting of both voting and non-voting members. Members attending this duly posted meeting are participating and deliberating only in conjunction with the business of the standing committee. Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Christopher Cinella Chair Present Leila Migliorelli Vice Chair Present John N. Tramontozzi Voting Present Shawn M. MacMaster Voting Present Jeff McNaught Voting Present Jack Eccles Voting Present Mark Garipay Voting Present Robb Stewart Voting Present Cory Thomas Voting Present Maya Jamaleddine Voting Present Jen Grigoraitis President, ex oficio Present
ORDER-2021-25 Request Requesting the City Solicitor appear before the City Council to discuss whether the City has the legal and regulatory authority to establish and recognize Indigenous People’s Day in the City of Melrose. Recommend Place on File City Council City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 11/20/2020 12:53 PM
Transcript
▶ 18:41 Christopher Cinella: Yes. Six yes. thank you and that concludes the legal and legislative committee this evening stay tuned for the appropriations coming up uh shortly 7 15 we'll be back thank you yeah resume recording all right good evening and welcome to the november 16th appropriations committee the time is 7 15 and my name is councillor sanella the chair of the committee I am joined by Vice Chair Laila Migliorelli and voting Member, Councillor Tramontozzi, Councillor McMaster, Councillor McNaught, Councillor Eccles, Councillor Garipay, Councillor Stewart, Councillor Thomas, Councillor Jamaleddine, and President Grigoraitis. And pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th order, suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law and the governor's March 15th order, imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place.
▶ 19:51 Christopher Cinella: This meeting of the Appropriations Committee will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. We will post an audio or video recording of this transcript or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Melville's website and on MMTV3.org. At this time, I'll entertain a motion for public comment. Motion to open public comment. Motion to open the floor for public comment made by Councillor Stewart, seconded by Vice Chair Migliorelli. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. yes vice-chair Migliorelli yes Consular Tramontozzi yes Consular McMaster yes Consular McNaught yes Consular Eccles yes Consular Garipay yes yeah Consular Stewart yes Consular Thomas yes I do not see Consular
▶ 20:53 Christopher Cinella: I know she was here. President Grigoraitis? Yes, and Councilor Jamaleddine is having connectivity issues. Okay. 10, yes. Okay, so I know we have quite a few people in queue to speak in public comment. Madam Clerk, do you think you could run through the predetermined list of folks just so they know when they'll be up next and then maybe have others that weren't in the list raise their digital hands? sure so i have a list of uh seven names i believe faris gray jim garrett sandy dixon suki hamson emmett hampson megan rosenberg and jim bennett apologies if i've mispronounced your name they have identified they'd like to speak at least at this time there could be others in the meet in the um attendee list as well so in the
▶ 21:42 meantime i guess if you want to speak please raise your digital hand so okay first first up mr gray i'm going to make him unmute him now mr gray can you hear us mr gray can you hear us can any of you guys hear him it was very faint i'm going to unmute him mr gray he's gone so next one for now maybe he'll rejoin yeah there was another email that just came in a second ago just so you know oh i didn't see it okay let's do uh mr garrett for now i'm sure he could try to get back on mr garrett yes can you hear me yes great thank you pardon oh the screen is all yours thank you my name is jim garrett i live at 70 artsmoor road i would like to speak in favor of replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
▶ 23:10 History that is not based on facts is mythology. Mythology can be imaginative and entertaining, but when it hurts people, we must ask instead for the real history. The mythology of Cristoforo Colombo as a bold explorer suppresses the reality of Columbus as a cruel tyrant and murderer this is a man who as a matter of policy required that indigenous people who could not produce sufficient gold be executed by cutting off both their hands and letting their letting them bleed to death some of his men practiced bayonet on innocent children with total impunity over a few years he nearly annihilated the taino people of the caribbean Estimates of the number of people his regime killed range up to 12 million people.
▶ 23:59 Fortunately, some Taino people survived. I know of a Taino family living in the Boston area today. Columbus's brutality was exceptional even by the standard of Spanish colonization, and not only to the indigenous people. As a governor of the Spanish-controlled Caribbean region, he was a despot with a flair for torture even to the Spanish colonists who had arrived. when complaints of his tyranny reached spain the king and queen fired him had him brought back in chains and put him in jail do we really want to celebrate this person publicly affirming that columbus is a hero erases this historical truth this erasure is a crime against our students studying history and it is a crime against all indigenous people there is no way that our so
▶ 24:49 Again, you just went on mute. You're back. Okay. Let me see where I was. There is no way that our so-called one community open to all can possibly be welcoming to an indigenous person when we celebrate Columbus. Imagine welcoming a Jewish person into our community while at the same time saying that the Holocaust was really no big deal. is that Jewish person going to feel welcome? Is he or she going to be willing to engage in honest friendship in that context? That's what Melrose is doing to indigenous Member of our community right now. I understand that some Italian Americans want to hold on to Columbus Day as a point of heritage pride. If there is anyone hearing this who is in that frame of mind,
▶ 25:53 let me address this. There are so many great Italians of history and so many great Italian Americans. Let's find another person to cherish. Columbus Day was first established federally in 1934 when Italian Americans were an oppressed minority. They grasped Columbus as a symbol to assert their rights as full-fledged citizens. Columbus's actual historical behavior was not widely known then. Today, things are different. More and more people are aware of the monstrosity of Columbus the man. The myth and symbolism of Columbus are dying. If Melrose discusses this today and knowing the truth of Columbus consciously chooses to uphold Columbus for the purpose of Italian-American pride, what kind of publicity do you think the Italian-American community
▶ 26:41 is going to get? That would be winning the battle but losing the war. Celebrating Italian heritage is important. I would welcome an Italian Heritage Day, but let's not hold on to Columbus. I mentioned earlier a Taino family living in the Boston area. If they were to visit Melrose, how would you propose explaining to them that Melrose is one community open to all when we choose to treat them as nothing and, meanwhile, celebrate the tyrant who killed many of their ancestors? Thank you. Thank you, sir. Madam Clerk, who's next? Next, I'm going to bring in Sandy Dixon. I'm just texting you're on mute there we go can you sorry yes you think with all these months okay my name is Sandy Dixon I live at 22 Martin Street thank you for
▶ 27:51 allowing me to address you this evening I would like to express my support for the city of Melrose recognizing indigenous peoples day I write to you as a person of Italian descent and I encourage Melrose to join the communities of Amherst Northampton Brookline Cambridge Somerville and Great Barrington that have chosen to celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day rather than Columbus Day. Member of Indigenous Peoples' Day Melrose believe that a holiday that celebrates Indigenous people is far more truthful and uplifting than one that honors a man whose legacy is characterized by conquest, slavery, and genocide. This group currently has the support of many local public figures and organizations, including Senator Jason Lewis, the Melrose Human Rights Commission,
▶ 28:36 the Melrose Commission on Women, and the Melrose Historical Commission. It's time to honor the people who are already here and who are still here rather than their concubine. Melrose, Massachusetts, ground zero for the founding of this country, is also the land of Native Americans, and there are endless landmarks with Indigenous origins whose history is never taught or celebrated. We see it in the name of our state, Massachusetts, named after a tribe of Indigenous people from this area, but whose history is not nearly as well known as that of Christopher Columbus. I imagine that many of us never find out about the indigenous people whose history, culture and selves have been all but erased while the names of Natick, the Merrimack River,
▶ 29:20 Lake Quinsigamond and Mount Wachusett, to name a few, remain. Many Italians assert that Columbus Day is at its core a celebration of Italian heritage and that changing the name negatively impacts Italian history. I disagree with this assessment. Both of my maternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from the island of Ponza off the coast of Naples and settled in the Appalachian Hills of West Virginia. My mother's first language was Italian and she and her family experienced significant discrimination. But over time, they are now seen as Member of the dominant society. Italians and Roman Catholics are not only part of the fabric of American society, their holidays are nationally celebrated
▶ 30:01 in ways that the Native American culture is not. My grandmother, an excellent cook, would have loved to see how thoroughly we have embraced Italian culture. When my mom came to visit me a few years ago, I proudly took her to Giacomo's Italian restaurant, followed by dessert at Dimitri's Pastry Shop, both of them walking distance from my house. It was not lost on me how easy it was to show off Melrose's love of her heritage, all without having to go into Boston's North End, which she also adores. This is not true of Native American people or their history. We do not know them, ask about them, or honor them, and it's time we do this. When I trained at the Bedford VA, I was struck by their clear and visible effort
▶ 30:41 to show their support of Native American veterans by holding a yearly powwow on the campus. This occurred right at the entrance to their sprawling grounds and could not be missed by anyone entering the facility. This powwow has grown to be a week-long event that makes a statement about the Veterans Administration's desire to honor, and more importantly, to know the real history of these service Member. It can be done respectfully and honestly. I hope that Melrose will take this step and consider renaming Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Dixon. Madam Clerk? Next up is Suki and... And you've seen the latest two that have come in? I have, yes. Suki and Emmett Hampson.
▶ 31:29 thank you bring them in now all right suki and emmett you're on okay my name is suki hampson i live here in mellers massachusetts the original land of the massachusetts and pawtucket people i'm 10 years old and was inspired by my mom to speak up about what i believe in i may be young but i have a strong opinion about changing columbus day to indigenous people's day while it is important to remember columbus as a part of our history we should not celebrate him Currently, we celebrate Columbus Day because some people were convinced or believe that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, currently known as North America. I want to start out by making it clear that he did not. The indigenous Taino people had inhabited the islands where he landed for
▶ 32:19 tens of thousands of years before Christopher Columbus had even come into existence. Columbus never even stepped foot on the land that is now the United States. In fact, Columbus was not even the first explorer to arrive in North America. Leif Erikson, among other Vikings, arrived around 1000 AD, almost 500 years before Columbus did. We should turn the tables and celebrate the indigenous people who inhabited this land before anyone else. To this day, there are still many indigenous people living in our towns and neighborhoods, going to our schools and working alongside us. Even so, living in Melrose my entire life, I have never met an Indigenous person. This is proof that they have been pushed to the back and forced to live in the background.
▶ 33:04 Celebrating a person that killed and undermined their ancestors definitely does not help their feelings of being pushed away. Christopher Columbus wounded the Indigenous Taino people for life by enslaving them and committing genocide. What he did led to the exploitation and killing of other Indigenous tribes across North America. The federal government is continuing to deprive indigenous people of their land and some of their legal rights. The government has designated specific land areas called reservations in various states, such as South Dakota, Arizona, and others. However, the number of indigenous reservations is becoming smaller every day. The government is taking away the small amount of land that they have given to indigenous people, which to me is very contradicting and hypocritical.
▶ 33:48 people in power in the present day are taking after Christopher Columbus and taking away the indigenous people's small amount of land that they have left in order to control them and what they do for these reasons I believe that Mara should take a stand and change Columbus Day to indigenous peoples day once and for all thank you for considering this important matter thank Thank you, Suki. Okay. The screen is all yours, Emmet. My name is Emmet Hempson. I am almost nine years old, and I live in Melrose, Massachusetts. My mom inspired me to write this letter. She thinks we should change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, and I think so, too. Columbus Day does not include anyone. I believe Melrose should change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.
▶ 34:43 Christopher Columbus enslaved and killed many innocent Taino people. The arrival of Christopher Columbus was the beginning of the destruction of indigenous life and culture. We currently celebrate a man who found New Orleans, then captured and killed the people who lived there. Think about the Native Americans we hurt by celebrating someone who enslaved and killed their ancestors. And that is why we should change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. We should stop celebrating Columbus, but we should still remember him and what he did. Thank you. Thank you. Great job. Madam Clerk, could we pull up Miss Betsy Garrett next? I was wondering, Mr. Ferris Gray, who was first, is back. Shall we put him in and then we'll do Miss Garrett?
▶ 35:38 Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Gray, you're on mute. Hello, hello, can you hear me? Yes, thank you. Hello. Hello. Thank you. Thank you. Um, my name is Ferris Gray. I am the Sagamore of the Massachusetts tribe at Ponkapok. I'm here to talk to you about Indigenous Peoples Day, I guess, versus Columbus Day. I was listening to a few of the young people speak about Christopher Columbus it seems they have a good handle on who he truly was and the atrocities he committed against the arawak and italian people who were the indigenous people of the caribbean christopher columbus was not a nice man basically um an evil man that would do such things to another human being even his own people were disgusted of his actions and it says a lot about a community or a country
▶ 36:57 and celebrate somebody that did such things if they are unaware of these actions then it's understandable but once they become aware of the actions of someone and then they celebrate that person says a lot christopher columbus terrorized the arawak and the italian people so that makes him a terrorist. He terrorized them. And today we live where there is terrorism in this world, so we can understand what terrorism is. And to celebrate a terrorist is appalling that we had to have this conversation about anyone that would celebrate a terrorist. Indigenous people need to heal, as all of us need to heal, from the atrocities that were committed here in the United States we cannot even attempt to heal when our colonizers the
▶ 37:54 ones who colonize us continue to celebrate a terrorist we can't heal the wounds still open this is not something that happened in the 1400s isn't something that happened the 15 1600s something is happening now how are we supposed to hear? How are our children supposed to hear? I mean the truth has to be known about what happened to the indigenous peoples of all the Americans. It can't be put on the back burner anymore and not talked about. That's not what we do when we talk about World War II and what the Jewish people had to endure. We don't hide from that. We teach our children about that great evil that swept across basically the whole world but when it comes to the things that happen here we seem
▶ 38:46 to throw it in the back burner and not want to talk about it well we need to talk about it because we all need to heal from it you know i always tell people especially in november when thanksgiving comes around because everybody wants to hear from the indigenous people i i always remind people that this foundation for this country was built on the grace of my ancestors and that is truth it really is that's true it was built on the grace of my ancestors and that's something the indigenous people have to live with every day and so we ask all the communities we ask the state everyone change columbus day make an indigenous people's day show some honor the indigenous people show some honor for us thanksgiving is not something for us that's something for the
▶ 39:37 colonizers that's not anything for us it's actually a day of mourning for us i mean for once we ask people to show us some honor first by getting rid of columbus get rid of them teach our children they want to talk about him in schools teach the truth about him and what he did with the arawak and the taino people get rid of the don't celebrate him celebrate the indigenous people and the fact that we're still here after hundreds of years of being assimilated we're still here i would like to thank everyone for joining this meeting taking times out of your lives to come and hear people talk i would like to thank this committee for listening to us and we hope that you can see the right thing to do here
▶ 40:39 you know the indigenous population is watching we pay very close attention to what's happening with mascots with imagery and really with columbus day so i like thank you for allowing me to speak here um and on behalf of my tribe i'd like to say about a buchanach thank you thank you mr greg Madam clerk union, miss. Yep. Hi, hello. Welcome. Hi, I'm Betsy Garrett. I live at 70 arts more road in Melrose. I acknowledge that the city of Melrose is located on the ancestral lands of the Massachusetts tribe. The tribe of indigenous peoples from whom the colony province and Commonwealth have taken their names. We pay our respects to the ancestral bloodline of the Massachusetts tribe and their descendants
▶ 41:37 who still inhabit historic Massachusetts territories today. I am one of the co-founders of Indigenous People's Day Melrose, along with Janet Kellinger and Heather Lavelle, under the advisement of Matooine Monroe, lead organizer for Indigenous People's Day Massachusetts, and Ferris Gray, who you just heard, Sagamore of the Massachusetts tribe of Pankapag. We have been working the past several years to build support to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in Melrose. Over 100 Melroseans have signed statements of support, along with several Melrose commissions, churches, associations, and businesses. You can see our list of supporters, endorsers, and partners on our webpage, indigenouspeoplesdaymelrose.org.
▶ 42:22 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has designated the second Monday of October as a legal holiday, And while it suggests that it be named Columbus Day, that is not mandated. We ask that in Melrose, we celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday in October, dropping the name Columbus entirely. In doing this, our city would join 11 other Massachusetts cities and towns who celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, including Cambridge, Marblehead, Salem, and most recently, Newton. Many people ask if you could create a joint holiday with a slash, such as Columbus Day slash Indigenous Peoples Day. This is unacceptable, as it would create a holiday that celebrates a brutal terrorist alongside his victims.
▶ 43:08 While this approach appeases some who desire to retain a familiar name, it does not foster healing or reconciliation. Rather, it reminds us of the ways our society prioritizes the comfort of white people over the trauma of indigenous peoples and the truthful telling of history please remove the name of columbus entirely from the city calendar and replace it with indigenous people's day thank you thank you miss garrett up next i have megan rosenberg hi megan the screen is yours if you could just state your name and address please miss roberts miss rosenberg can you hear us i think you have have the Hampson's unmuted mr. Bennett can you hear us mr. Bennett you're on mute can you go can you hear me now excellent Jim Bennett 45 Wentworth Road
▶ 44:52 I would hazard a guess that most of the people on this council take no issue with the institution of indigenous people's day but the difficulty comes in removing columbus day for to remove columbus day from the calendar could be viewed as an assault on the heritage of catholics in general and of italian catholics in particular and that interpretation is not without merit a century ago many of the protestant yankees who dominated towns like melrose viewed catholic immigrants as fundamentally anti-american if not subhuman an article in the boston journal in 1896, for example, described a group of Italian workers on strike here in Melrose as, quote, an ugly-looking crew, low-browed, swarthy, and desperate, end quote. The Protestant establishment
▶ 45:39 had lots of reasons to exclude Catholics, but perhaps none was more potent than the assertion that they were recent arrivals. Protestants had built this country and owned it. Catholic immigrants were merely tenants. Yet Catholics discovered that they had a powerful historical argument for why they should be included in this country. The pilgrims had arrived in 1620, yet the Italian Catholic Christopher Columbus had arrived over a century before. None of these recent immigrants, even those from Genoa itself, had ever venerated Columbus while they lived in Europe. But when they came to the United States, they began to honor him because they used Columbus's legacy to secure their own legitimacy and to overcome the bigotry that kept them from living
▶ 46:26 out the American dream. And it worked. A century later, we live in an America that is the result of that hard struggle for Catholic inclusion. Our president-elect is Catholic. Seven of nine Supreme Court justices are Catholics. Here in Melrose, at one time in the late 1990s, our mayor, pat guerrero our state representative mike festa our state senator richard to say and our governor our joe paul salucci were all italian catholics all of this was made possible by those early immigrant generations who fought for columbus day and it is for that reason that i would argue if you want to honor all of those catholic immigrants who fought to make america more inclusive a century ago, then get rid of Columbus Day now. Catholics in America don't need Christopher
▶ 47:19 Columbus anymore. They are now part of the American mainstream. And with that change in status, Columbus Day has gone from being a holiday of inclusion to a holiday of exclusion, a way of diminishing the value of those peoples and communities who have been in this country long before this country ever was for those of you who like me have catholic immigrant heritage i ask you to extend to our indigenous communities the hand of friendship that our ancestors so rarely felt and vote to abolish columbus day and institute indigenous people's day Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bennett. Next up, I believe, Mr. Mook. Hi, Mr. Mook. You're on mute. Hi, can you hear me now? Yes. Okay, great. Just state your name and your address, please.
▶ 48:24 Yes. My name is Alistair Mook. I live at 63 Nowell Road, and I'm here as a representative of the Melrose Racial Justice Community Coalition and our group steering committee. I'll be very brief. Our coalition would like to add its support for the establishment of Indigenous Peoples Day in Melrose in replacement of Columbus Day. We consider this a basic racial and ethnic justice issue for our city. At the same time, we would fully support the establishment of additional ethnic and heritage pride days for our city, including an Italian American heritage and culture day some other time in the month of october or at any other time of the year we believe these changes would far better honor the culture and heritage of indigenous people
▶ 49:07 italian americans and our city at large thank you very much thank you next i have miss jane allen miss allen can can you hear me okay yes if you could just state your name please in your address thank you um hi everyone nice to see you my name is jane allen i live at 179 east foster street um i am the great granddaughter of rosalie lespina from messina sicily and i'm here to speak to you tonight in favor of celebrating indigenous people's day instead of columbus day to those of you who may feel that this isn't very important or it's not a change you want to make i'll just say that just a few years ago i felt the same way i didn't really understand why this mattered but since then i've come to understand that when we celebrate columbus
▶ 50:13 day um we we actually harm indigenous people um we're celebrating a brutal murderer as the speakers before me have um laid out for you including suki and emmett um and as a corollary to that we stereotype indigenous people and we erase their history so i think this is important um that we're not harming indigenous children but i also think it's important because i think that this harms my own children as well i think it is confusing to them as young people when we send a message when we're celebrating um someone we're casually dehumanizing indigenous people by celebrating Columbus. Finally, I'll just say my husband did a survey of Melrose and he finds that nowhere in the city do we celebrate any indigenous person through a memorial or a plaque or a
▶ 51:07 monument or anything. And I feel like this is an important time that we can begin a new phase of not only acknowledging indigenous people who were here before us, but celebrating them. So So, with that, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Next up, I have Lizbeth DeSelm. Ms. DeSelm, can you hear us? You're on mute. I'm on mute. Yep. There we go. Right. There you go. You'd think I'd be a pro at this. Apologies. Right. Good evening City Councillors. First, I need to state that I am not here speaking to you on behalf of or for the school committee in part, or as a whole, I am here speaking on my own and for myself. As with many neighbors before me, I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the agenda item regarding Indigenous Peoples Day, nationally known as Columbus Day.
▶ 52:17 While Christopher Columbus, or named after Christopher Columbus, we all learned the sing song in elementary school. In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. It's a perfectly benign song and one that covers up genocide, mass pillaging, a story of greed, lust, avarice, and a need to conquer and enslave Caribbean peoples, indigenous peoples, the Arawaks. My friends, as Churchill famously said history is written by the victors indeed by columbus's own words as soon as i arrived in the indies on the first island in which i found i took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever is in these parts boston university historian howard zen in his book in his book a people's history of the united
▶ 53:18 states notes that the decline was brutal when it became he was here there for gold when it became clear that there was no gold left his words the indians were taken as slave labor on huge estates known later as encomiendas when their work they were worked at a furious pace and died by the thousands by the year 1515 there were perhaps 15 or 50 000 indians left by 1550 a mere 35 years later there were 500. a report of the year 1650 shows none of the original arrow acts or their descendants left on the island i don't know about you but it's the i believe that it's the job of thinking people to not to be on the side of executioners this from albert camus a famous philosopher what columbus did to the aroax of the bahamas cortez did to the aztecs of mexico
▶ 54:23 pizarro did to the incas of peru english settlers of virginia and massachusetts to the power power I'm gonna butcher this name I'm so sorry ha ha tons and pick what's my friends as you've heard we're beginning to address the realities of Columbus in the classroom our teachers are working on this Melrose High School has changed their mascot from their logo I should say from the dream catcher to merely the circle with the M. There's still work to do, but within your power is to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day here in Melrose, and that's what I'm hoping you will do tonight. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Madam Clerk? That's all I have for my list. If there's anyone in the room that would still like to
▶ 55:22 speak who has not, if you could raise your digital hand. I see Megan Rosenberg will try her again okay mr rosenberg hi can you hear me yes great i'm so sorry about the audio trouble thank you sure my name is megan rosenberg from 117 florence street in melrose um and i wanted to add my voice in support of indigenous people today and also add my perspective as an educator um as well as a parent of two small children um early in my teaching career i taught the history of columbus and the encounter with the indigenous people in the caribbean the students found it incredibly empowering to dig into primary sources like some of the ones that lizabeth mentioned to find out what truly happened but also confusing
▶ 56:16 to learn that the hero that they had been taught to celebrate every year actually perpetrated incredible devastation to the communities he met including murder rape slavery and ultimately genocide two years after columbus established a base on haiti what is now haiti half of the 250 thousand Indians on the island were dead. I believe it is one of the measures of a great society that's willingness to improve and we know better now than we did when Columbus Day was established in 1792 and even when some of us were learning this history in school maybe just a few decades ago. We know enough now to separate the facts from the myth and are listening to the voices of the five million Native Americans in the U.S. when they tell us the trauma this
▶ 56:57 national celebration causes. I would love to be able to tell my students and my kids my own children that we did exactly what the teachers asked them to do listen research learn revise and improve we can embrace what makes this country great which is the amazing diversity of its people and establish a new and better celebration of this land's original inhabitants that everyone can participate in together thank you for your time i appreciate it thank you anybody else everyone for my list mr shaman and no hands are up motion to close public Public comment made by counselor Stewart. What was the second? Showing hands, but seconded by Council McMaster and Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Chairman Sinella, Vice Chair Migliorelli? Yes.
▶ 57:51 Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor McNaught? Yes. Councilor Eccles? Yes. garape yes councillor stewart yes councillor thomas yes councillor Jamaleddine yes president Grigoraitis yes 11 yes we have one order before us this evening um if we could just get a quick motion to suspend the rules we could hear from our motion to suspend the rules second second motion to suspend the rules made by president Grigoraitis seconded by vice chair Migliorelli madam clerk please call them all chairman sanella yes vice chair Migliorelli yes councillor traymond tozy yes councillor mcmaster yes councillor mcnaught yes councillor eccles yes councillor Garipay yes councillor stewart yes councillor thomas yes councillor malady
▶ 58:53 Jeff McNaught: Yes, Gregor is yes, 11. Okay, so we have the 1 order 2021 dash 25 requesting that the city solicitor. Here before the city council to discuss whether the city has the legal and regulatory authority to establish and recognize indigenous people's day in the city. I'll 1st, turn it over to. uh the sponsors i know council mcnaught did you have okay okay thank you mr chairman um made statements i just want to make sure everybody can hear me clearly before i continue um make sure everyone is is muted i know we've had some feedback um in prior moments. But I really wanted to thank everyone who came and spoke. I'm gonna frame the introduction of what we're doing here. I'm not gonna ask any questions. I'll turn it over. Initially,
▶ 59:57 Jeff McNaught: or our chairman will turn it over to the co-sponsor of this order, Councilor Jamaleddine momentarily. I'll start off by thanking everyone who spoke. To frame the issue that we're discussing tonight is to, we've invited the city solicitor here who's done some research, and he is going to tell us whether or not the city of Melrose has the legal and or regulatory authority to establish and recognize indigenous people's day in the city of Melrose. The reason that we filed this order was for clarification purposes around this question before really any other step could be taken. It's clarification for us as a community and, you know, as we saw a few moments ago, we're only as strong as our dialogue, our civil dialogue.
▶ 1:01:01 Jeff McNaught: and that is what I think we've put down here tonight is a formal discussion on this topic. But the reason this came up for us more quickly and more recently was because the school committee had recently added Indigenous Peoples Day to the school calendar. And after that motion was made and that addition passed, there was a motion to remove Columbus Day from the school calendar. That did not pass. In the wake of that not passing, there were a couple of school committee Member who said, well, we're going to ask the city council. I'm paraphrasing here, by the way. I'm not putting words in anyone's mouth, but we're going to ask the city council what we can do to make broader changes or to make changes at all.
▶ 1:01:55 Jeff McNaught: I don't think any of us knew the answers to those questions. I don't think everyone in the community knows the answers to those questions. But we are here tonight to answer the question presented by the City of Melrose. I have a second question here, and that is the school calendar, and this isn't a direct question right now, Mr. City Solicitor, but the school calendar, do we have any authority over that? Who has authority over that because we did not. It did not require any action on our part to add. Indigenous people's day to that calendar, nor any. Weigh in on any motion thereafter with all that said, I hope I've. Kind of frame the issue well, and I'll turn it over to our chair who I believe is going to him.
▶ 1:02:57 Maya Jamaleddine: things over to counselors for melody thank you and uh just for housekeeping purposes we do have to go over to city council at 8 15. so uh counselors your melody thank you chair um um and thank you um counselor mcmahon for co-sponsoring as well i wanted to start by thanking all um the community Member who participated in public comment i want specifically uh uh thank ferry gray uh for um sharing with us his emotions and his experience and i know for sure it must be very challenging um to share and it's um it's just it would just bring more trauma and um memories during especially during this time i want to thank our young speakers um who really educated us and inspired us and wanted to assure you that we I am
▶ 1:04:06 Maya Jamaleddine: personally not debating whether or not we should change it as much as I wanted to understand and make everyone better understand the logistics to make this happen so thank you so much for our city solicitor to coming before us and I would like to turn the mic to him after the chair thank you the city solicitor screen is yours Thank You mr. chairman Member of the Appropriations Committee good evening to you so I've been called here this evening to to explain in summary form the legal authority of the city of Melrose to recognize a day for indigenous peoples and I do want to say before I begin my remarks that some of the folks who participated during public comment have somewhat of a greater grasp
▶ 1:05:01 on the history of this subject than I do so I would certainly defer to the views that have been expressed I just want to speak to you this evening about sort of the legal authority. So in broad brush fashion, Columbus Day, as has been said by one of the speakers during public comment, is a legal holiday. It is codified in both federal and state law. On the federal level, it is codified at 5 U.S.C. 6103, and here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it is codified at General Law Chapter 6, Section 12V. Those statutes are mandatory, deeming the second Monday in October to be known as Columbus Day. That's the legal distinction for Columbus Day. The second question, which involves the ability of a city or town
▶ 1:05:58 to hold a day of recognition for indigenous peoples would require, in my view, either a resolution or a proclamation by the City of Melrose. And when I say City of Melrose, I'm referring specifically to either the mayor, the city council, or a collaboration of the two bodies. I understand there was a question earlier about the school calendar. Councilor McNaught, I think you raised it. And I would just say simply that the designation of dates on the school calendar belongs exclusively to the school committee. But the designation of a day proclaiming or recognizing indigenous peoples is a function that belongs to the city council in collaboration with the mayor or, frankly, to the mayor himself as chief executive officer of the city.
▶ 1:06:56 I've done a bit of research into this across the country, and it appears currently, just for your edification, that 14 states in the union currently either observe Indigenous Peoples Day in lieu of Columbus Day or co-celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day with Columbus Day. And the states I've discovered are Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Plus, I believe the District of Columbia does as well. here in Massachusetts, Somerville, Salem, Marblehead, Brookline, Cambridge, and Amherst is the most current list I have, but I'm sure that list has grown since I found this. Those are the communities that also recognize Indigenous Peoples Day. So in order to do this in Melrose,
▶ 1:07:55 Maya Jamaleddine: the legal authority rests upon either a resolution or a proclamation. But in saying that, I do want to advise, and simply my role to advise the city council and the community, that Columbus Day as a legal holiday would remain on the law books unless there was action at the state level or the federal level to do otherwise. So having said that, I'm happy to answer any questions that Member may have. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, City Solicitor Van Kampen. So just to clarify, we are unable to change the bylaw the state and the federal bylaw but on a city level if we have a resolution or Proclamation would that would are we able to change the calendar that so that we recognize that day as indigenous peoples day and
▶ 1:09:03 eliminate Columbus Day only from the city calendar on a local level sure so there is there's no city calendar that is that is published per se but assuming passage of a resolution or a proclamation recognizing indigenous people's day that recognition assuming it were the second Monday in October that recognition would be something that the community would would would promote would celebrate whether it's through the mayor's social media platform the city council social media platform the school committee social media platform so that the day would be in melrose known as indigenous people's day uh but to your question uh counselor there's no uh published calendar that would have to be altered in any way in order to effectuate that
▶ 1:09:55 Maya Jamaleddine: right right but when we when we you know like we recognize that today for any reason like for I'm gonna if I might say so for DPW when they need to pick up the trash because of we we're gonna extend because of the holiday so it would be because we have we're gonna recognize it as we have indigenous people's day and we're not gonna recognize it as Columbus Day correct the only I would just make the comment that Columbus Day being a legal holiday is something that's contained in some of the city's collective bargaining agreements so that the day itself is treated as a holiday indigenous people's day would simply be sort of overlaying that day I guess is best way to say it okay and would that uh reflect the school calendar or no they have to re-approve
▶ 1:10:56 Maya Jamaleddine: it uh they would have to re-issue the school calendar and i suspect that if the city council or the mayor or both decided to enact a proclamation that the school committee would follow suit and do the same but do they have to vote on it or is it does it come automatically because it would vary from city to another that's from my understanding based on my research yeah i think the school committee would still have to vote to place the day on the calendar okay it wouldn't be it wouldn't become an automatic change per se uh but because the school committee has exclusive jurisdiction over the school year calendar okay got it thank you so um my last question now if we file a resolution or proclamation and hopefully
▶ 1:11:49 Maya Jamaleddine: if this would pass uh with a vote um can you explain to us what is what is the benefit or what what is it that we're going to achieve can you repeat the question i'm sorry what is that resolution or proclamation would achieve so what it would achieve would be to um to let the word go forth in the city of melrose that um the second monday in october is to be known as indigenous people's day and there would be a recognition in the community um celebrating you know the achievements uh and the contributions of indigenous peoples. Awesome. And then we wouldn't have to recognize it as Columbus Day. We don't have to recognize it. Yeah, there's no party is compelled to recognize the second Monday in October as Columbus Day. The city of Melrose could certainly act under a proclamation
▶ 1:12:56 Jack Eccles: recognizing indigenous people's day but i think it's always worth noting that in the background you still have a legal holiday that's on the books and unless there's some higher authority changing that status it's hard for me as the city's lawyer to say it doesn't exist okay thank you so much on them i didn't see any other hands go up did i miss anybody okay um So, Councilor Eccles, and then we'll go to Stuart and then McMaster. But again, we do have to go to City Council at 815. So, Councilor Eccles. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you to everyone who spoke tonight and thank you Mr. Van Kempen for being here. I just have one quick question just for point of clarity. My understanding is that a proclamation comes from the Mayor's office, resolution
▶ 1:13:47 Jack Eccles: comes from the City Council and would, for this to take effect, would it be a joint effort? Is it one or the other? Does one supersede the other? Just as far as what steps definitively need to be taken, can the mayor do it unilaterally? If you could shed some light on that. Yeah, the mayor can certainly do it unilaterally. I think this process has begun at the city council level. So the mayor is somewhat respectful of the fact that the city council has commenced this process and begun this dialogue in the community. But he certainly does have the authority to issue a proclamation unilaterally. I think he would very much, in the sort of spirit of his administration, prefer to collaborate over something like this in the community, bring all stakeholders together, if that's what it takes, Member of the school committee, et cetera, et cetera.
▶ 1:14:36 Robb Stewart: But you're right, Council, there is a difference between a proclamation and a resolution. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Councilor Stewart. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you, Mr. Van Kampen, for coming tonight. It's just a simple question. You say that it's a legal holiday at the Massachusetts level. Is that holiday a recognized holiday by the city for purposes of vacation or getting the day off and being paid and so forth? yes it's a it's considered one of the one of the holidays throughout the calendar year for city employees and for school department employees as well as for the students of the Melrose public schools so for that reason and that reason probably only you would need to recognize Columbus Day as Columbus Day
▶ 1:15:37 for the purposes of you know it being the holiday right correct all right okay All right, I just want to fire down. Thank you. Mr. Ben captain. Thank you Do we want to go to City Council and do we want to continue with questions present greater is Easier just because we only have a couple minutes Is it is it just counselor McMaster in queue? Sorry. I wasn't yes Track I'm sorry master. Do you I don't want to rush you. Does that three minutes feel a little tight? I Have three questions, but I think it would be determined on mr. Van Campen's responses to those questions so i would defer to the chair go ahead counselor thank you mr chairman good evening mr van camp and thank you for being here you mentioned that there are two avenues
▶ 1:16:31 Shawn M. MacMaster: for changing columbus day one would be a resolution which would be a legislative action the other would be a proclamation which would be an executive action would a municipal referendum be a third uh avenue i suppose theoretically it would be yes are you aware of any municipality just through your research mr van campen in the commonwealth of massachusetts or anywhere else in the united states that has initiated a change like this through a municipal referendum i am not aware of this being done by a municipal referendum counselor what i have seen in my research is this has been done by either executive authority or through a legislative body such as a city councilor or town meeting although I believe in towns when you refer to
▶ 1:17:26 municipal referendum I believe that at a town meeting it's actually a citizen petition that I've seen to the town meeting to effectuate this and I think that happened in Brookline if I'm not mistaken and if the city of Melrose change Columbus day to indigenous people day would that have any effect at all in city operations no I think that's it thank you mr. VanCampen thank you thank you I'll entertain a motion to recess at this motion motion to recess so we're gonna recess made by counselor Stewart seconded by vice chair Migliorelli madam clerk please call the roll chairman sanella yes vice chair Migliorelli yes councillor Tramontozzi yes councillor mcmaster yes councillor mcnaught yeah councillor eccles
▶ 1:18:23 Jen Grigoraitis: yes councillor Garipay yes councillor stewart yes councillor thomas yes councillor maladin yes president Grigoraitis yes 11 yes we are now at recess so president de griggs thank you chairman sanella all right uh good evening the time is 10 p.m on monday november 16th i am president Grigoraitis in this meeting of the melrose city council call to order pursuant to governor baker's march 12th 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law and the governor's march 15 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place this meeting of the city council will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible we will post an audio or video recording
▶ 2:01:53 Christopher Cinella: He is still here. I'm no longer the host. All right. Thank you, Danny. Go get a drink. We left off with Councilor McMaster. Were you finished, Councilor McMaster? I was at this point, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you. Who else has a question? Show of hands, any other questions for the City Solicitor? Seeing none, well, I appreciate your patience, Mr. Solicitor. My pleasure. There are no other questions at this time and what is the will of this committee on this order? motion to place on file second a motion to place on file made by councilor chamatozy seconded by council mcmaster any discussion seeing none madam clerk please call the roll chairman sanella yes vice chairman liarelli yes councilor Tramontozzi yes councillor mcmaster yes
▶ 2:03:00 councillor mcnaught yes councillor eccles yes councillor Garipay yes councillor stewart yes councillor thomas yes councillor malady yes president Grigoraitis yes 11 yes okay uh at this time i'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn made by councillor stewart seconded by councillor thomas chairman sanella yes vice chairman gliorelli yes councillor Tramontozzi yes councillor mcmaster yes councillor mcnaught yes councillor eccles yes councillor Garipay yes councillor stewart yes councillor thomas yes councillor malady yes president Grigoraitis 11 9 p.m in the dot yeah now adjourned but you can't leave yet all right so we are now back in the full council um and at this point yes may i make a motion for a three-minute recess you may