As the Los Angeles Times reports, the L.A. City Council voted yesterday, August 30th, that Columbus Day should be changed to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Indigenous, Native, and Pacific Islander activists argue that Christopher Columbus brought disease and brutality to the U.S. and greatly harmed the native peoples. But that’s not what’s taught in U.S. history textbooks, and they say it’s time that changed. American citizens, the activists argue, must understand that the U.S. needs to mend its ways when it comes to helping native peoples.
Supporters believe celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Christopher Columbus Day in Los Angeles is the first step in ensuring that the U.S. approaches the path for healing when it comes to relations with Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and indigenous people everywhere. There’s outcry from some Italian Americans who believe that Christopher Columbus Day being replaced is an erasure of Italian history. However, Italian American Heritage Day in the city will be on October 12th.
Indigenous activists say that native history has been erased from the very beginning, and it’s time that it comes back.
#ColumbusDay is now #IndigenousPeoplesDay in #CityofLA #ItalianAmericanHeritageDay is 10/12. Honoring #indigenous roots & Italian heritage pic.twitter.com/KhYImoOVJf
— Jose Huizar (@josehuizar) August 30, 2017
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