Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal is a brilliant and elaborate site is a “gateway to Plateau peoples’ cultural materials” held in multiple historical preservation establishments. Tribal administrators (working with their tribal government) provided information and their own materials as to expand the archives. This website is crucial to celebrating diversity within the Indigenous People’s culture rather as to group them together singularly as “Native American.” The website provides cultural materials, respectively to each tribe, digitally along with a map so that one can see exactly where it used to be.
Just looking at the six tribes featured is only six of the 560 federally recognized tribes that exist in the United States alone. Most of the cultural materials provided provide insight to the devastating imperialism and cultural genocide of these tribes. 50 million people had been living, thriving, existing in America before the voyage of 1492. The Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal is a terribly real reminder that the land we live on today is occupied illegally and the persistence of Indigenous Peoples’ Day should be federally recognized instead of Columbus Day. Replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a huge feat in recognizing that Christopher Columbus did not discover anything. One cannot discover land that is already inhabited by millions of people. On top of that, Columbus is the notorious catalyst that caused the genocide of millions of North American inhabitants and the cultural annihilation of hundreds of diverse cultures. The Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal is an homage to the tragically destroyed cultures and classifies them individually giving them the recognition that is due.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is not a new phenomenon, just incredibly unrecognized. Minneapolis recently passed a resolution this April for Indigenous Peoples Day to rename the second Monday of October. Hopefully we can observe just the start of a historical observance revolution. Going through this website and viewing the pictures available is a huge reality check.
(Note: The Indigenous People of the Plateau include some parts of Canada, not just the U.S.)
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