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City Council Meeting Minutes September 18, 2018 <br />Day. Because water is life and our springs are sacred, the community today <br />called San Marcos has been steadily populated longer than perhaps any other <br />place in Abya Yala. My husband, daughter & I have lived in San Marcos for 6 <br />years, by way of the Rio Grande Valley; my ancestors are Coahuiltecan and <br />Lipan Apache, who migrated and who lived in this area of Tejas for over <br />13,000 years. The Sacred Springs are the birth place of our indigenous people <br />in San Marcos. <br />My passion for protecting our rivers and natural ecology isn't just a platform <br />point; it's a familial obligation and spiritual duty. As an educator who recently <br />attained my doctorate, I can faithfully assert that Cristobal Colon, or <br />Christopher Columbus, is no hero. His own travel journal attests to his <br />brutality — from enslavement to sexual violence — and the Western bias of <br />our educational & political systems have pushed the notion that a European <br />who never even arrived anywhere today considered the U.S. somehow merits <br />our celebration. When genocide and enslavement of the Taino people <br />exterminated most their population, colonizers began enslaving Africans and <br />bringing them to work on sugar plantations, known as white gold. It is a very <br />important issue for me: our indigenous population is still here in San Marcos <br />— not all of us were exterminated, but our voices have been silenced for so <br />long. We have had to compromise our lands, our dignity, our identity. It is <br />time for the leadership in San Marcos to be responsive to the atrocities long <br />inflicted on Indigenous People in San Marcos. It is time for restitution. It is <br />time for our culture to be acknowledged, celebrated, and honored. <br />Texas State was right to concede to protestors in removing the roadside <br />Jefferson Davis Confederate Memorial in 2016 and San Marcos— a beacon of <br />indigenous legacy, both for our unique history and as home to the Sacred <br />Springs Pow Wow — should act to cancel Columbus Day permanently." <br />Ezekiel Enriquez, addressed the City Council regarding his issues with Code <br />Enforcement. He stated that he feels that there are two sets of laws, one for <br />Hispanics and one for white people. He stated that he has spoken to multiple <br />people on City Staff and the Mayor regarding an issue with a car being illegally <br />parked on his street and stated Hispanics are red tagged right away if this is <br />their vehicle. He said fixing a car can cost $250.00 and Hispanics don't have <br />the luxury to pay for this just to have it towed. He asked the Council to do <br />something about this. He asked what are we paying code enforcement for, we <br />the citizens are paying your salaries and we should all be treated equally. <br />Marc Bech, read a statement on written by Jennifer Hayes, who was unable to <br />attend tonight's meeting, but wanted to be heard: <br />Cln,o/San Mamos Page 3 <br />