Columbus Day is now Indigenous Peoples' Day in Seattle

Play

This week the city go Seattle decided to officially change Columbus Day to "Indigenous People's Day."

on.aol.com

On the October 5 episode, Last Week Tonight asked “How is this still a thing?” in regards to the upcoming holiday known as Columbus Day. It was dubbed by the show as the “strangest of American” holidays, and rightly so. In an age where we move more and more towards equal treatment of people in all walks of life all over the world, it seems strange that we would commemorate events led by a leader and his crew who were involved in the murder and enslavement of First Nations people for the benefit of themselves. This is perhaps one of the reasons Seattle lawmakers unanimously voted to change the name of the holiday to Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Wiki Commons

Other cities and states have already chosen not to recognize Columbus Day, so “why do the rest of us still do it?” asked Last Week Tonight. Most of us are all but annoyed when we get to the post office or bank and realize they are closed. But this is a national holiday with governmental observances that we are forced to abide by in certain respects.

The Seattle City Council wanted to recognize that Native Americans were here first. The city’s name honors a great Native American chief (See-ahth in the Lushootseed language) and is the largest city in the United States to have named itself after a Native American leader. But further honoring was deemed necessary. As Quinault Nation President, Fawn Sharp told the city council, “Nobody discovered Seattle, Washington. This action will allow us to bring into future and present a day honoring our rich history.”

Some Italian-Americans fumed, stating that the holiday was “a celebration of Italian history in the United States,” reported MSN. It was not the man that they celebrated but rather a symbol of immigration from Italy which allowed many to break through the binds of poverty and discrimination as they became an accepted facet of American society. Those who fumed pleaded for a separate day to be designated as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

According to Time, the redesignation of the holiday will be fully in place before October 13. Seattle joins a growing number of states who are recognizing Native American history.

*originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com