Montana Senate votes against Indigenous Peoples holiday

JoVonne Wagner

Montana Free Press and ICT

Editor’s note: This version states that a request for comment sent Tuesday to Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, had not been delivered to his email address by this morning.

The Montana State Senate voted Tuesday afternoon against discussing a bill that would have established Indigenous Peoples Day in the state following debate over how the new holiday would replace Columbus Day.

However, at least one member of the Montana American Indian Caucus plans to introduce another bill that would move the state-recognized American Indian Heritage Day to October, the same month as Columbus Day. 

Sen. Susan Webber, a Democrat from Browning and a Montana American Indian Caucus member who introduced Tuesday’s motion to discuss Indigenous Peoples Day, said that she wanted to debate the bill, SB 141, after the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee tabled it on Monday. 

A release from the Montana Senate Democrats said that, during executive action, Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, spoke in opposition to the bill, praising Christopher Columbus as “one of the most skilled seafarers of his time” and that he “discovered the trade winds that are used to the present day.”

After Fuller spoke, Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, motioned to the table the bill, the release said.

"Indigenous Day is about all Montanans,” the bill's sponsor, Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, said in the release. “Everyone is indigenous to somewhere. This is a way to celebrate everyone’s heritage in a way that is inclusive and can promote healing and togetherness. It’s a shame SB 141 was tabled without giving it the conversation it deserved.”

“This bill should have received a full debate because I take exception to Sen. Fuller’s comments about taking history out of context,” Webber, who sits on the committee, said after it was tabled, the press release reports. “I don't care if you are in 1492, 1992, or 2002; raping women and children, cutting hands off of men and women, and burning people alive is more than enough to say that this man should not be celebrated. Our children need to know the truth, not the whitewashed vision of a supposedly great seafarer who discovered Española because he got lost.”

This story originally reported that Tempel had not responded by printing deadline for this story to a request made by Havre Daily News Tuesday for comments on tabling the bill before it was discussed by the committee. Havre Daily News emailed a request for comment to Tempel Tuesday, but received a system message after this story was printed that the message was queued but had not been delivered to his email, and another message Thursday saying it still had not been delivered.

Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, said the bill’s tabling reflects the makeup of the Legislature.

“This thing will never pass. Not in this environment,” Windy Boy said in an email to Havre Daily News. “This issue is not a priority of this Legislature. The make up of this Legislature is 68-32 in the House, 34-16 in the Senate with the Republican majority. As a matter of fact, last summer, the Republicans removed anything and everything Native on the Republican planks at their annual conference. Since that move occurred, anything (on Native issues) in the Republican party was removed as a priority.”

Sen. Mike Fox, D-Hays, had not responded by printing deadline this morning to a request made by Havre Daily News Tuesday for comments.

The bill mirrors a five-decade movement to replace Columbus Day with Native American or Indigenous People’s Day, with supporters citing atrocities committed by Columbus and the genocide of Native people’s in the centuries following his discovery of the New World.

Multiple states and cities have replaced Columbus Day, but it has had pushback both from people who wish to honor the Italian explorer and people who say Columbus Day, first celebrated in 1892 after mass lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans a year earlier, as a day to celebrate Italian heritage and the contributions of Italian Americans to the United States.

More than a dozen states observe Indigenous Peoples or Native American Day, and President Joe Biden in 2021 became the first U.S. president to issue a proclamation commemorating Indigenous Peoples Day.

Tuesday’s action used a procedure that allows bills killed in committee to be brought to the floor for debate using a so-called blast motion, which requires a simple majority to resurrect a stalled bill. However, the Senate voted Tuesday 33-17 against the motion, with all Republicans except Native caucus chair, Sen. Jason Small, R-Busby in opposition. 

“There were 39 people who spoke in support of the bill; there were no opponents,” said Webber, Blackfeet, in her opening statement. She was referring to a public hearing held Feb. 8. “These 39 people came from over the state of Montana to support [the bill], and they deserve to understand why the bill was tabled.” 

Sen. Dan Salomon, R-Ronan, said on the floor in opposition to the blast motion that the language and quotes used by the bill’s sponsor during its introduction to the committee made him uncomfortable.

“He starts off with, and I can quote, with accusing Columbus of rape, beheading, amputations, slicing torsos in two, sex trafficking. You can imagine where this hearing went in a hurry,” Salomon said to the Senate. 

Salomon also expressed how angry these accusations made him during the committee hearing. He attributed the bill’s failure to its sponsor, Morigeau.

“Folks, this was the classic, and I do mean classic case, of a bill sponsor killing his own bill,” he said.

Morigeau, a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, responded to Salomon on the Senate floor.

“The committee killed the bill, not me,” Morgieau said. “I don’t know how you have a discussion about someone who was identified historically during his time to have done things that were not part of the norm without actually talking about those things. I don’t think we can have discussions about things and hide history and whitewash history.”

Morigeau’s bill was the latest attempt to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day in Montana. Similar attempts to create the holiday have gone before the Montana Legislature during each of the past four sessions. Supporters say the bill is an attempt to increase education on the history of the state’s relationship with its Indigenous communities.

The bill initially stalled Monday in committee with legislators voting on party lines. 

Morigeau said the move cut short a much-needed conversation.

Meanwhile, Webber was prepared for the worst-case scenario. Tuesday, she had a rough draft of a new bill that would move American Indian Heritage Day from September to Oct. 12, which is considered the traditional day of the American Columbus Day. Federally, the United States now recognizes the holiday on the second Monday of October. 

Montana already recognizes Heritage Day as a day of observance to commemorate the state’s American Indians and their valued heritage and culture. However, Webber’s latest bill could be seen as another attempt by the caucus to eclipse Columbus Day.

The bill has not yet been assigned a number.

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This story is co-published by Montana Free Press and ICT, a news partnership that covers the Montana American Indian Caucus during the state’s 2023 legislative session. Funding is provided in part by the Headwaters Foundation.

Havre Daily News staff contributed to this report.

See the original story at https://montanafreepress.org/2023/02/14/montana-senate-votes-against-indigenous-peoples-holiday/?utm_medium=email&mc_cid=c0ac59964e&mc_eid=e46c7f8d40 .