Los Angeles city council votes to replace ‘Columbus Day’ with ‘Indigenous Peoples Day’

Los Angeles city council members voted 14-1 on the measure, which would rename the paid holiday for city employees and would shift the focus to the indigenous people who lived in the Americas fist...

TheGrio Staff

Aug 31, 2017

The city council in Los Angeles has voted to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.

The council voted 14-1 on the measure, which would rename the paid holiday for city employees and would shift the focus to the indigenous people who lived in the Americas fist.

Councilman Joe Buscaino, the only “no” vote, said that he was siding with Italian-Americans, who viewed the holiday as a celebration of their culture and history.

Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, a member of the Wyandotte Nation tribe, was the one to push for the change. Many people see Columbus as a symbol of the genocide committed against the indigenous people of the Americas, and his celebration has been especially called into question as the nation debates questions of how to honor its past without honoring the atrocities committed.