Monday, October 12, is Indigenous Peoples' Day in the City of Myrtle Beach

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY – OCTOBER 12, 2020

WHEREAS, the City of Myrtle Beach recognizes that the indigenous people of the land later known as North America occupied this land for thousands of years before European settlers arrived; and

WHEREAS, The City of Myrtle Beach further recognizes and honors the valuable contributions these indigenous people have made to our knowledge, culture, technology, economy, philosophy, arts and history, and that their contributions continue to this day; and

WHEREAS, What we now call the Grand Strand was previously known as The Land of Chicora, home of the Waccamaw, the Chicora, the Winyaw, the Santee, the Edisto, the Catawba, the Pee Dee, the Cheraw, the Chickasaw, the Lower Eastern Cherokee and the Beaver Creek Indians, and that these names and their descendants live on in our community and culture today; and

WHEREAS, The City of Myrtle Beach is proud to recognize these indigenous people as the original settlers here and acknowledge that they were frequently persecuted, pushed aside and otherwise driven from their homeland in the first centuries of this nation’s existence; and

WHEREAS, Indigenous Peoples’ Day was first proposed in 1977 by a delegation of Native Nations to the International Conference on Discrimination Against the Indigenous Population in the Americas, hosted by the United Nations;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED, That the City of Myrtle Beach hereby declares October 12, 2020, as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, in recognition of the historic sacrifices by Native Americans, both past and present, and their continued contributions to the rich fabric of our society;

AND, BE IT FURTHER PROCLAIMED, That the City of Myrtle Beach is proud of our Native American heritage and encourages residents and businesses to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day annually on the second Monday in October.

Signed and Sealed September 22, 2020.