By Vanessa Igras, Staff Writer
This past week the Peace and Justice Student Council (PJSC), with the support of Gettysburg Environmental Concerns Organization (GECO) held their 6th Peace and Justice Week.
The theme of the 6th P&J Week was decoloniality. PJSC President Daniel Jones and GECO President Diana Biesecker “planned a condensed week of events” in order to raise awareness for indigenous communities and their struggles.
The decision to choose this theme was difficult for the PJSC. However, Jones shared that he knew it had to involve the indigenous community.
Jones stated that “we are a year behind. A year behind, when we made public promises to create indigenous partnerships, indigenous relationships. With little to no support, we have barely acted on this promise.”
Jones emphasized that “in weeks such as these, [the PJSC] must spotlight those who we are trying most to center, which in this case is indigenous communities.” For this reason, the PJSC made it their priority to include members of the indigenous community and their work at the event.
The week “highlighted the work of indigenous protest artist Christi Belcourt, made and distributed hand-stamped ‘Sacred Earth’ banners, and encouraged donations to the Carlisle Indian School,” according to Jones.
Retrospectively, Jones shared that the rally was his favorite component as it “dedicated time and space to allow people to reflect on what decoloniality means to them, specifically.”
Jones also shared that “rallies allow for [the PJSC] to observe the support from the community, and to learn from both who has gone out of their way to attend and listen, and those who did not.”
Finally, Jones shared his goal when planning and running such events. He, “hopes that by helping to mobilize students and faculty this week, [the PJSC] can continue to push them to dedicate themselves to immediate and measurable change surrounding these issues.”
