The holiday formerly known as Columbus Day is now Indigenous Peoples’ Day, at least in Athens.
The Athens-Clarke County Commission passed a resolution last week declaring the second Monday in October to be Indigenous Peoples Day. The resolution notes that Athens sits on land that was stolen from the Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) tribes.
The idea of Indigenous Peoples Day came about in 1977 because some Native Americans resisted celebrating Christopher Columbus, who in the view of many colonized rather than discovered an inhabited land and committed genocide. (A certain group of New Jersey Italians disagrees with this.)
The resolution authorizes events to celebrate indigenous culture and traditions, and directs county officials to include them in the historical record, cultural resources and programming.
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