18th ANNUAL NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE DAY

18th Annual Native American Culture Day

Indigenous Voices, Music, and Dance at this Year's Native American Fest
All are welcome to attend the Library's 18th Annual Native American Culture Day on Saturday, November 7, 2009, from noon-5 p.m. at the Main Library. The event will include Native speakers, musicians, dancers, and films. The Main Library is located at 125 14th Street. This event will be held in the West Auditorium.

The theme this year is "Indigenous Voices at the United Nations." Local Native activists speak about the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and international indigenous struggles for rights and preservation of the earth. The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. (As an aside, today, November 1, Raquel Rolnik, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, is scheduled to visit the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where the housing is said to be in a deplorable state.)

Special guests include Tony Gonzales of the American Indian Movement (AIM-West), and Alberto Saldamando of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC). Both AIM-West and the IITC are organizations of Indigenous Peoples working for human rights, environmental justice, and self-determination. In 1977, IITC was the first Indigenous organization to receive Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council. Oakland's own Medicine Warriors Dance Troupe will be on hand to perform Native American dances, as they have in years past. Flautist Wally Johnson and drummer Jane DeCuir will perform. Films will be screened from noon to 1 p.m.

Native American Culture Day is sponsored by the library's Native American Services Committee. It is a free public event for all ages. For more information, call (510) 238-3134.