Akron City Council split along racial lines as a resolution meant to heal divided.
Councilman Russ Neal introduced language Monday that would have recognized the second Monday in October not as Columbus Day but Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The swap is meant to honor the contributions of Native Americans and recognize that “the first voyage of Columbus to the Americas initiated the transatlantic slave trade … [and that] the devastation of indigenous populations would lead to the kidnapping, deaths and enslavement of tens of millions of African people and the profound effects of the transatlantic slave trade and African diaspora continue to be felt to the present day.”
