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The Seattle city council voted this week to officially change the name of Columbus Day, a federal holiday in the United States, to Indigenous People's Day as part of a growing movement to recognize Native American history. The council unanimously approved the re-naming on Monday, while city Mayor Ed Murray is expected to sign the resolution next week.
The new name acknowledges that America existed and was inhabited by indigenous people before Columbus “discovered it” in the 15th Century, and to remember the violence that indigenous people suffered at the hands of the first Europeans.
“Nobody discovered Seattle, Washington,” said Fawn Sharp, Quinault Nation President, to the city council. “This action will allow us to bring into future and present a day honoring our rich history.”
Seattle, itself a city named after a Native American chief, is the second major U.S. city to officially change the name of the national holiday, which falls on the second Monday of October. Minneapolis, Minnesota passed the motion in April of this year. However, Berkeley, California has been celebrating Indigenous People's Day since 1992, and in the state of South Dakota people celebrate Native Americans' Day.
Following Minnesota's ruling, Bill Means, an activist from the Lakota Nation, told Minnesota Public Radio that the story of Columbus discovering America was "one of the first lies we're told in public education."
“We discovered Columbus, lost on our shores, sick, destitute, and wrapped in rags. We nourished him to health, and the rest is history,” said Means. “He represents the mascot of American colonialism in the western hemisphere. And so it is time that we change a myth of history.”
Some members of Seattle's Italian community objected to the change saying Columbus Day was a celebration of their cultural heritage, given that Columbus was Italian.
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