Indigenous Matters and the 2024 MA Legislative Agenda

It is important to the rebalancing that I imagine is possible that we acknowledge that we live on lands loved for millennia before us by people of the Massachusett, Mohican, Nauset, Nipmuc, Pawtucket, Pocumtuc, Seaconke, Pokanoket, Pocumtuk, Nipmuc, Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy and Wampanoag tribes and nations. I give thanks to the indigenous people who stewarded the land and waters of Massachusetts for more than 15,000 years. I acknowledge that I inhabit land seized and stolen from these indigenous people, whose descendants still live among us. I am committed to honoring their wishes for respect, restoration, and independence and invite you to join me.

The 2022 Massachusetts Legislative Agenda

You may think you know all about why to support the MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda but there is still much to learn if you … WATCH THIS POWERFUL ONE-HOUR VIDEO OF THE JANUARY 11 INDIGENOUS PANEL SPEAKING ABOUT THE NEED TO SUPPORT INDIGENOUS-CENTERED BILLS IN MASSACHUSETTS!

And if you don’t have the time to be further re-educated and inspired …THEN JUST TAKE THIS ACTION STEP:-Go to https://bit.ly/SupportIndigenousBills and send an automated letter to the members of the legislative committees where the bills are currently sitting, asking that the bills be reported out of committee favorably. You can customize the letter if you want. Please share and get your friends and organizations to write, too!-Learn more about the bills and get updates via http://maindigenousagenda.org/-Email for more information: info@MAIndigenousAgenda.org or info@uaine.org

Move our bills out of committee before the deadline!

The 2021-2022 Indigenous Legislative Agenda includes 5 priorities: Remove Racist Mascots, Honor Indigenous People’s Day, Celebrate and Teach Native American Culture & History, Protect Native American Heritage, and Support the Education and Futures of Native Youth.

Join us in calling for each of these bills to move out of committee!

An Act prohibiting the use of Native American mascots by public schools in the Commonwealth. (S.2493/H.581) Currently about 30 public high schools in the state use Native American mascots. This bill would task the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education with establishing regulations to prohibit Native American mascots in MA public schools.

An Act establishing an Indigenous Peoples Day. (S.2027/H.3191 ) This bill replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in the Massachusetts General Laws.

An act relative to celebrating Native American culture and history. (S.382/H.651) This bill addresses the lack of Indigenous curriculum in Massachusetts public schools.

An Act providing for the creation of a permanent commission relative to the education of American Indian and Alaska Native residents of the Commonwealth. (H.582) As a State Education Agency, the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must engage in timely and meaningful consultation with stakeholders. Representatives of Indian tribes located in the state are explicitly identified as stakeholders.

An Act to protect Native American Heritage. (S.2239/H.3377 & S.2240/H.3385) This would ensure that Native American funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony (those of cultural, traditional or historical importance to their heritage) held in governmental, municipal or non-profit collections are not sold for profit.