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Los
Angeles joined several U.S. cities and states, including
Minneapolis, Seattle, Alaska, Hawaii and Oregon that have
replaced Columbus Day, a federal holiday celebrated on the first
Monday in October to commemorate the anniversary of Christopher
Columbus arriving in the Americas in 1492.
The Los Angeles city council voted 14-1 on Wednesday to make the
change to commemorate indigenous, aboriginal and native people.
"The historical record is unambiguous and today is a moment
where we took a step that is righteous, that is just, that is
heeling and that is historically clear," Councilman Mitch
O'Farrell said after the vote.
Support for Indigenous Peoples Day has steadily risen in recent
years, paralleling the growing perception that the wave of
European settlement in the Western Hemisphere was genocidal to
native populations.
The vote came after a contentious debate unfolded between
Italian Americans and Native Americans over Christopher
Columbus' place in history versus that of Native Americans who
were slain or driven from their land.
"Why don’t you stop picking on Christopher Columbus as though
you’re picking on our people," Beverly Hills resident John
Giovanni Corda told a crowd of supporters and opponents of the
measure during the meeting, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"We never hurt you. We never wanted to hurt you."
The federal government and about half of U.S. states give public
employees paid leave on Columbus Day, according to the Council
of State Governments. Schools and government offices are
generally closed, but many private businesses remain open.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee Editing by Jeremy
Gaunt)
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