NBC’s “The Voice” finalist and pop singer Brooke Simpson, MTV Video Music Award winner PJ Vegas and acclaimed Native-American rock group Redbone will take the stage at the second annual Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at Grand Park. The event is set to take place at 4 p.m. on Oct. 13 on the stage next to the Spring Street steps of City Hall.
Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, 13th District, who is joined by the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission as co-collaborators on the event, said the organizers are using this platform to focus on the theme “Past, Present and Future,” with a call to action for state and federal lawmakers to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
“I am thrilled to work with PJ Vegas and Redbone once again on this very special event for the Native American community in Los Angeles,” O’Farrell said. “The addition of Brooke Simpson will also help amplify our message that we must take this movement to the next level and inspire the entire country to affect change in their communities.”
In collaboration with countless Native community leaders, O’Farrell, a member of the Wyandotte Nation, led the initiative to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day during his first term in office. After numerous hearings with members of both the Native-American and Italian-American communities, the City Council voted in August 2017 to establish Indigenous Peoples Day as the second Monday in October.
Since Los Angeles replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in 2017, other large cities such as Detroit, Tulsa and Long Beach followed, and cities that have adopted resolutions to declare the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day include Berkeley, San Francisco, Denver, Seattle, Anchorage, Portland, Albuquerque, Minneapolis and Santa Cruz.
On a state level, New Mexico, South Dakota and New Hampshire also celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day.
“Our community has fought hard for this annual celebration and for this platform to uplift the issues, talent and contributions of Native Americans in Los Angeles,” said Chrissie Castro, chair of the Los Angeles City-County Native American Indian Commission. “Through this event, we are paying tribute to the city and nation’s first peoples, the Tongva, and rejecting the violent, genocidal man that is Columbus.”
Vegas, son of Redbone member Pat Vegas, said he is “looking forward to taking the stage once again with my father for this historic event.”
“Redbone’s message is all about ‘love and music,’ and this is a perfect theme for an event aimed at uniting our community,” PJ Vegas said.
Grand Park is located at 200 N. Spring St. For information, visit facebook.com/events/684605161966415.
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