OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A group of American Indian rights activists demonstrated Saturday in protest of the memorial in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown district to the Oklahoma Land Rush and the state’s other land runs.
The Society to Preserve Indigenous Rights and Indigenous Treaties, or SPIRIT, conducted what it called a “Sit-In Indigenous Resistance” at the memorial to the 1889 Land Rush and the land runs of 1891, 1892, 1893 and 1895.
The group contends the memorial glorifies the genocide of Oklahoma’s Native Americans and wants it removed, have plaques revised to include the stories of how the runs affected the state’s tribes, or to have a monument to the state’s Native American history next to it.
SPIRIT organizers told Oklahoma City television station KOKH that they plan to meet with Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt this week to discuss their concerns and suggestions.