The second Monday
NEWBURGH, NY — Surrounded by a metal fence, the bronze statue of Christopher Columbus at Unico Park stands on a stone pedestal with its right arm extended and its right index finger pointed south. The Newburgh Chapter of UNICO National, an Italian-American service organization, dedicated the statue in October 1992.
In the direction of that index finger, 17 people stood in a circle on the morning of Monday, Oct. 14. Five were Native Americans who led a ceremony that included sage and tobacco as well as drumming and singing, which was accompanied by the cawing of crows, the shrieking of seagulls, and the serenade of a songbird.
That ceremony was hosted by Clearwater, the nonprofit dedicated to protecting the Hudson River. 2019 marks a half century since Clearwater’s eponymous sloop was launched and a century since its founder, Pete Seeger, was born. Following the ceremony, a sold-out sail was held aboard the sloop, which was docked at Beacon.
The Clearwater events, which recognized Native Americans, reflected the nationwide friction over Columbus Day, which was designated a federal holiday in 1937, then assigned to the second Monday of October in 1971. The movement to rename that day in honor of indigenous people started in 1992, the same year the statue was dedicated in Newburgh. The statue was vandalized last October.
Clearwater’s vessel logistics manager, Shaye Weldon, organized the ceremony and sail as way to “intertwine nature with a cause and to empower and lift up the voices of people who are not often heard.” Part of the proceeds from the sail were donated to the Turtle Clan of the Ramapough Lenape Nation.
Chief Vincent Mann of the Turtle Clan, a resident of Andover, N.J., attended both events, along with his wife, Michaeline Picaro, and his aunt and uncle, Nancy and Lee McCaslin of Bath, N.Y. They were joined by Evan Pritchard, the founder of the Center for Algonquin Culture in Rosendale, N.Y.
During the sail, Pritchard shared information about the history of the surrounding land. Mann then talked about the past and present struggles of Native Americans, pausing to notice a monarch butterfly flutter past the sloop. Afterward, Mann was asked why he was there that day.
It was important, he said, because it was an “opportunity to celebrate what today means to us indigenous people, but also the opportunity to continue to share the true history of who we are, and to remind people what it means to be part of a community. Because this is a place now in which we all dwell. It’s important for everyone to know that so that we can all begin to heal.”
