Hello Framingham,

The Framingham High School’s Black Student Union, Framingham Families For Racial Equity in Education, Staff and other community members, invite you to participate in a community signature drive. Your signature would support the changing of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day in our School Calendar, by the Framingham School Committee; furthermore, your signature would also support the passage of a resolution to be created and accepted, by the Framingham City Council, for Framingham to honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day and no longer recognize Columbus Day, on the second Monday of October.

We have all heard the voices of Indigenous People who are calling for an end to the celebration of Columbus. We support joining the dozens of other cities (including in Massachusetts, Cambridge and Harvard College, Somerville, Brookline, Amherst and Northampton) and entire states, including Minnesota, Alaska, Vermont, Oregon, and North Carolina, who have already replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Hawaii celebrates Discoverers' Day on the second Monday of October. And South Dakota celebrates Native American Day.

Please support this change because it reflects your values and the values of our schools, who are educating our children about the importance of human rights, including the knowledge and understanding that Indigenous people lived on this land since time immemorial, tens of thousands of years before Columbus arrived in 1492, and they continue to live and thrive amongst us despite 527 years of colonization and institutionalized suppression of their cultures and voices. The historical record shows that Columbus committed brutal atrocities against the indigenous people he encountered, including rape, theft, enslavement, mutilation, and mass murder, and he is recognized as having initiated the transatlantic slave trade.

Our Indigenous friends and neighbors consider changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an important first step toward acknowledging the genocide of millions of their ancestors and the theft of their homelands, that began with the arrival of Columbus, as well as a recognition of Columbus’ role in the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of African people. It is a meaningful symbolic gesture to begin addressing the pain caused to Native Peoples by the many years of celebrating Columbus as a hero.

Thank you for considering adding our schools and community to the growing number of cities who embrace a corrected history and a path towards peace.

Framingham High School Black Student Union

We as people who reside, work, and go to school in Framingham acknowledge this City is located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts People.