City officials have officially canceled Columbus Day. Instead, Detroit will now celebrate Indigenous People’s Day on the second Monday of October after the City Council unanimously approved a proposal to recognize it. Columbus Day is a federal holiday, but Detroit city workers do not receive it as a paid day off.
Several people spoke out against the proposal, saying Columbus Day should be kept and viewing it as an attack on Italian-Americans. But council member Raquel Castaneda-Lopez, who proposed the resolution, said the day will be about about recognizing native ancestors and shedding light on history that’s often “overlooked by mainstream society.”
