ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Detroit plans to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day starting next year instead of Columbus Day.
The Detroit News reports City Council approved a proposal Tuesday on the issue about how to mark the second Monday of October.
Some other U.S. cities have made changes. Columbus Day, the federal holiday commemorating the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus, has been protested by those who argue his arrival to the Americas ushered in centuries of mistreatment of Native Americans.
Councilwoman Raquel Castaneda-Lopez proposed the resolution, saying it will help illuminate history that’s overlooked by “mainstream society.”
Several people spoke out against the proposal, saying Columbus Day should be kept and calling the change an attack on Italian-Americans.
In Detroit, the newspaper says city workers don’t get Columbus Day as a paid day off.
