Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day

Jollof Rice Recipe

Jollof rice is known throughout Nigeria, indeed, throughout West Africa.

There’s a great article in The Guardian about controversies arising over whose jollof rice is the correct one, or the most delicious. The New York Times shared a recipe for jollof rice some time ago. It’s from a Nigerian in New Orleans!

Even within Nigeria there are multiple ways to prepare the dish. Here’s my way. This will serve 4 to 6:

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil (veg oil has less taste; you may prefer it)
• 1 onion or 1 cup chopped onion (I often use the frozen onions with green peppers, though green peppers are not necessarily part of jollof rice)
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic or 3 garlic cloves, chopped, though many Nigerians would not add garlic
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes. I may use those with additions like pepper or Italian seasoning.
• 4-6 tablespoons of tomato paste, depending on how much you like the rich tomato flavor
• 2 hot chili peppers or 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon dried ginger
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 8 chicken legs or thighs with skin on, or without skin for fewer calories but less taste
• 2 cups of long-grain rice. I use Uncle Ben’s that cooks in about 20 minutes.
• chicken stock

Rub the chicken pieces with salt and grill until nearly done, turning once. While they are cooking, heat oil  in a large pot. When oil is hot, add onion. When onion is translucent, add garlic. In 2 or 3 minutes, add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, peppers or substitute, and other spices, stir well and cook over medium heat for 4 or 5 minutes until well blended. Add rice and enough stock to cover the rice, bring to a boil, add the chicken, lower heat, cover the pot and cook until rice is done. Check for salt.

Some people cook the rice separately, add the chicken to the mixture, and when the chicken is done, add the rice, but I like to cook it all together.

Write a comment if you try this or a variation, and share your reaction with other readers.

This evening I was speaking to my son Sam in Nigeria. “How do you prepare jollof rice?” I said. His answer? “I say to the cook, ‘Make jollof rice!'”

Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day

The first commemoration of Columbus in the US came in 1892. At the time Italian immigrants and their descendants were badly treated by other Americans. A year earlier 11 Italian Americans had been lynched in New Orleans.

“Italian Americans latched onto the day as a way to mainstream and humanize themselves in the face of rampant discrimination,” I read on the NPR website today. “It became a national holiday in 1934 to honor a man who, ironically, never set foot in the United States.”

Do you know where in North America Columbus landed?

For many years since then, Native Americans have objected to honoring the man whose memory reminds them of “the 500 years of colonial oppression at the hands of European explorers and those who settled here — a history whose ramifications and wounds still run deep today.”

In 1977 Native Americans proposed an Indigenous or Native Peoples Day at a UN conference on discrimination. South Dakota became the first state to switch Columbus Day to Native Americans’ Day in 1989. Other states and cities have followed. Washington DC switched some years ago.

Four years ago I gave a Pecha Kucha (a format for PowerPoint presentations in a specified time frame) on Columbus Day. I titled it Columbus and I Make Discoveries. I my summary I said,

“We celebrate Columbus today for his discovery. Yet his discovery led to colonizing, destruction of Native American life, and the slave trade. In 24 years living in Nigeria, I discovered non-Western traditions that are rich and meaningful, just as Native American traditions are. Today I wonder whether we should celebrate Columbus. Should we instead repudiate him and his discovery for the damage it led to? Should we repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery that underpinned explorers and discoverers of his day?”

“I want to tell you how I became an advocate for racial justice through discoveries I made about myself and about history. I’ll explain the Doctrine of Discovery and new insight into Columbus,” I began.

In brief segments I related my own story – going to Nigeria, learning about “native customs” that are valuable, coming back to the US to attend the Yale School of Management, SOM. About that experience I said, “There I met Native Americans as classmates and friends. I learned that the stories I’d grown up with, about Columbus, about Native Americans, were by no means the whole story. I learned about the struggles faced by Native Americans.”

“I became a Unitarian-Universalist about twenty two years ago. I attended a General Assembly where I learned about the Doctrine of Discovery that gave the right of conquest to Christian ‘discoverers’ and missionaries. While there I met and listened to Clyde Grubbs, a lifetime advocate for Native American rights.” When preparing the talk, I learned that the Doctrine of Discovery has never been repudiated.

My presentation ended with a call to repudiate Columbus Day, honor Native Americans’ rights, and end racism in all its forms. I used this cartoon.

So I called today Indigenous Peoples Day. What did you call it? Did you think about the name?