LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As a child, Angela Arnett-Garner's mother told her to be curious about other cultures and to help others in need.
“Some people call me the founder of the Indigenous Peoples Day movement of Kentucky," Garner said.
Indigenous Peoples Day is a holiday in the U.S. that celebrates and honors Indigenous Peoples and commemorates their histories and cultures. President Joe Biden officially commemorated the day two years ago.
"My focus is Indigenous rights, justice. I just want to bring a more complete understanding of the culture and the problems that [Indigenous Peoples] face, the adversities that Indigenous Peoples face, the things that we can do to help them and to help our society work together and be more cohesive and help each other,” Garner said.
It's that curiosity that led her to become an advocate for Native Americans. Part of her work was helping create Indigenous Peoples Day in Louisville and Kentucky. It's celebrated on the same day as Columbus Day.
“Indigenous Peoples Day seeks to balance that discussion and give the Native American or indigenous perspective,” she said.
As part of Garner's work, she also shares the history of when Native Americans resided in the Commonwealth.
“Native Americans were here for at least 12,000 years in the state of Kentucky," she said. "We had Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Shawnee, and many, many more peoples that lived here in Kentucky."
Garner's ultimate goal is to make Indigenous Peoples Day a federal holiday, but for now she is educating cities across the state.
“People should think about the fact that since 2017, at least 26 cities, large and small, have passed Indigenous Peoples Day proclamations in their city councils. There's also been two counties that I know that have passed laws in their fiscal court recognizing it county-wide and that's Lincoln County and Madison County,” Garner said.
She wants to be the positive change and hopes to motivate others.
“I just take a lot of pleasure and joy out of making people happy. I love to feel like I'm a part of making positive change, whatever the issue is. I get more pleasure out of that than just about anything in the world, to feel like I have made some kind of positive change in my community, in this state in the world -- there's no greater pleasure.”
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