ISU and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day - East Idaho News
Education

ISU and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day

  Published at

POCATELLO — Monday marks Indigenous People’s Day, and Idaho State University and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes recognized the day with an inaugural celebration.

The day-long event celebrated Native American culture, explored the ideas of what it means to be indigenous and shined a light on how the campus community can support all students.

The day started with a sunrise ceremony and an address from ISU President Kevin Satterlee and Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Chairman Ladd Emo.

The rest of the day included cultural performances, and workshops on topics like the environment, health and ethics.

It’s no mistake Indigenous Peoples Day is on Columbus Day.

“Christopher Columbus is known for ‘discovering’ America,” says Laticia Herkshan, a member of the Indigenous Peoples Day Committee. “Of course he didn’t really discover it, there were people here before that, so celebrating indigenous people that were here… who have been here… is important.”

The day is also a way to make the indigenous student population more visible.

“Being an indigenous person, it’s really important to see the visibility of us on campus,” says Sunshine Shepard, an ISU Student and another member of the Indigenous Peoples Day Committee.

“So it’s really nice to have all of us get together and be able to celebrate and show our culture to people here who may not see…our culture very much on campus.”

This comes a little over six months after ISU and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes signed a memorandum of agreement, renewing the relationship between the two entities.

SUBMIT A CORRECTION