NASHVILLE—The Scarritt Bennett Center, a non-profit conference, event, and retreat center hosted Nashville’s celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day this year on Oct. 13. This was the eighth celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day in Nashville history by the Indigenous Peoples Coalition. The very first was held in 2017 by the American Indian Coalition, the IPC’s previous name.
Speakers included the Rev. Sondrea Talbert, Executive Director of the Scarritt Bennett Center, and Rev. Kelli X, Director of Racial Justice Ministries for the center, who read a land acknowledgment.
Other speakers included Yuri Cunza, President of the Nashville Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Loraine Segovia, Executive Director of the Nashville Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation; Kulvne Begay, Ambassador of the 39 Tribes of Oklahoma; Stephan White Eagle, Southern Cheyenne, Drum Group, Eagle Nation; Sharon Smith, Mohawk, Saponi, Powhatan, Pamunkey, Indigenous Women’s Circle; Dominique Keraya, American Indian Traditional Healing Center; Eloy Aparicio of Kalpullilhuicamina-Flechador Del Cielo; and Maribel Padron, Danza Azteca Ollin Quetzalli.
The Scarritt Bennett Center is dedicated to creating a space where individuals and groups can relate to each other in the struggle to reach a more just world. It is a place of inclusion for racial justice. In the Civil Rights era, it was the first institution in Nashville to integrate.
This year’s celebration represented an increase of celebrants involving Latino residents who now identify with their Indigenous roots. It was noted that President Joe Biden’s recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day in 2021 celebrated “the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples” and recognized the sovereignty of the tribal nations of the United States. But the proclamation did not establish Indigenous Peoples Day as a federal holiday, nor did it dis-establish Columbus Day as a federal holiday.
Fast forward to October 2025 and the Trump regime and the current occupant of the Oval Office. Trump indicated he would disavow Biden’s recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day and hailed Columbus as a “true American hero” in his Columbus Day proclamation. Columbus was in fact, a slave trader, sex trafficker, and promoter of pedophilia.
Indeed, little wonder Trump, with his background, feels a connection with the infamous explorer in light of the fact that Columbus was a provider of Indigenous women and Indigenous children as sex slaves to his fellow invaders. By his own admission, as evidenced by his diaries Columbus wrote in the year 1500:
“A hundred castellanos are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls, those from nine to ten are now in demand.”
This is from this guilty explorer’s own writings. He speaks of the victims of sexual slavery as though referring to inanimate property destined for heinous enjoyment. What kind of culture was the Spain of the 16th century in the heyday of a nascent capitalism?
But back to Trump, who is an alleged sexual predator who finds solace in praising a sexual predator of bygone days. Who else is in his panoply of disgraced “heroes”?
As for this year’s celebration in Nashville, it must be added that the event ended with a reading of the proclamation of Mayor Freddie O’Connell designating Oct. 13 as Indigenous Peoples Day.
It is noteworthy that Nashville was the first large city in the South and the first state capital in the South to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day. Currently, 15 states across the United States recognize the day.
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