First Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Santa Barbara, CA

The Tribal Trust Foundation collaborated with local community members on a successful campaign urging the Santa Barbara City Council and County Board of Supervisors to officially recognize the first Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, replacing Columbus Day.

After a year of advocacy, the Mayor of Santa Barbara issued a formal declaration, supported by local Chumash leaders, including representatives from the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians (SYBCI), the Coastal Band, and the Barbareño community.

This unified support was deeply meaningful, marking a powerful step forward in community healing and acknowledgment. Indigenous Peoples’ Day honors the survival, strength, and cultural resurgence of Native communities in the face of centuries of colonization, genocide, and erasure. It represents a commitment to truth-telling, reconciliation, and shared responsibility.

Here in Santa Barbara, we recognize and honor the Chumash people as the original stewards of this land, whose enduring presence and wisdom continue to shape the ecological and cultural fabric of our region.

Mayor Schneider is going to make a formal Proclamation on Sunday Oct. 8th naming the second Monday of October (Oct 9th this year) as Indigenous Peoples Day in Santa Barbara. She will give this proclamation at an hour long celebration at the Unitarian Society, 1535 Santa Barbara St on that day (Sunday October 8th) from 12:30 – 1:30pm. Please show your support by attending and joining in the celebration and conversation of reconciliation.

The relationship of indigenous and non-indigenous in our country is in deep need of healing right now. We need to act with integrity and sincerity if there is ever going to be any chance of that happening. Both the government and our society must provide our indigenous communities with the respect they deserve. The time is NOW. This historical trauma dates back more than 500 years and it has plagued all of us for long enough.

We have approximately 550 Native American tribes in our country. Prior to the arrival of Columbus in the West Indies in 1492—the event which triggered mass genocide, confiscation of land and the conscious destruction of their culture—Indigenous Peoples had been living sustainably on their ancestral lands for over ten thousand years.

The “Doctrine of Discovery” was the 1493 document issued by the Pope that permitted these atrocities. It said that any person living on land who was not a white male Christian was not considered a person—but rather an ignorant savage who did not have the right to own land. Therefore the land was available to be “discovered and taken” by the colonists.

By changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, we acknowledge the true historical legacy of colonization, genocide and enslavement of Native peoples and we begin the process of reconciliation to heal the historical trauma that affects us all and the land we are a part of.

Barbara Savage
Founder
Tribal Trust Foundation