AMERICAN CITIES RENOUNCE COLUMBUS DAY IN FAVOR OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY

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  Today, as United States observes Columbus Day, many cities within the U.S. are instead observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
  
  
  Nine cities in the U.S. have changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Eight of those cities have enacted resolutions in the past two months and three have adopted the change in just the past week. The following are places observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day today.
  
  
  Lawrence, KS
  Portland, Oregon
  St. Paul, Minnesota
  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
  Albuquerque, New Mexico
  Olympia, Washington
  all of South Dakota
  Berkeley ,California
  Erie County, New York
  
  
  Indigenous People’s Day recognizes the contributions and endurance of the Indigenous populations in America. More and more, people are realizing the pillage, slaughter and eventual slave trade that Columbus brought to the Americas when he so famously "discovered" the western world. Columbus, in fact, never made it out of the Caribbean, but he is credited as the one who discovered America although North and South America was already populated in 1492.
  
  
  Nonetheless, Indigenous People’ Day has seen backlash from other Americans. For example some Italian Americans claim Cristoforo Colombo as their own. Anna Vann, member of the Sons of Italy, Denver, says “It’s a celebration of when the Europeans came over and started their lives here. We wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for this history.” (Most Italians came to America in the late 19th and early 20th century due to economic insecurity in the Republic of Italy at the time, and we think Thanksgiving technically embodies Vann's point.)
  
  
  Nevertheless, Indigenous people and their allies want all Americans to recognize the displacement and erasure of Native Americans in the United States. With Columbus came the genocide of Indigenous people, and it seems as though some cities, states, and counties are attempting to honor Native Americans lost as well the vitality of Indigenous culture in America that was never intended to survive the invasion of European settlers.