Environmental Youth Council has publicly voiced concerns regarding the celebration of the 450th anniversary of the founding of St. Augustine since the planning by the City of St. Augustine began several years ago.
We object to honoring Pedro Menendez and Juan Ponce de Leon who brutalized the indigenous people, and to reenacting their arrival every year; We encourage city officials and 450th event organizers to publicly acknowledge the injustices that took place during that time, and recognize the role the Doctrine of Discovery played in the colonization and dispossession of these lands; We encourage the City of St. Augustine to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; We encourage the City of St. Augustine to establish an Indigenous Rights and Truth Commission including input from Traditional Practitioners and Spiritual Leaders.
We encourage the City of St. Augustine to recognize that many Indigenous people view the Castillo de San Marco in the same light as African
Americans view the Confederate Flag- as a symbol of oppression and injustice, and to be empathetic to their calls to have these symbols
removed.
Environmental Youth Council has come to these conclusions on our own. There are other organizations that have voiced their own concerns
regarding these issues but that are not associated with EYC.
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