Aurora activist: Replace Columbus with Indigenous Peoples Day
Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, but we now know he did not discover America.
In fact, Native Americans were living here for centuries before he arrived.
Yet, he is still celebrated in many places with his own day every October.
Chuck Adams, the executive director of Indivisible Aurora, however, says he hopes this month's Columbus Day is the last to be celebrated in Aurora as he works with city and school leaders to join the movement of other municipalities and states to instead observe Indigenous Peoples Day.
Dozens of cities, including San Francisco and Cincinnati, and states such as Minnesota, Alaska, Vermont and Oregon have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. Hawaii celebrates Discoverers' Day on the second Monday of October. And South Dakota celebrates Native American Day.
"Even Columbus, Ohio, doesn't celebrate Columbus Day. So I think its time for us, especially in an area where we seem to talk about a lot of pride in the Native Americans who certainly occupied this land, to do the same," Adams said.
"We have a river named after the Fox Tribe. We have schools that use Native American names and mascots. It's time to say that we're going to celebrate the contributions and the history in a three-dimensional way of these tribes and these people in a way that we haven't in the past."
Adams said he recently had a dinner meeting with Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin to discuss the idea. And a committee is being assembled to bring the community advocacy group's proposal to area school districts in the coming weeks.
"From the school district standpoint, it would be very nice if they would spend some time in the run-up to that holiday to talk about the contributions, the history and the culture of the native communities who founded this area," Adams said. "I would love to see the mayor and city officials at some of these events celebrating, in a really rich way, the contributions of the Native American populations in this community."
Adams said Indivisible Aurora members will help lead those conversations and participate in those activities.
On Monday, Irvin said Aurora already has moved away from celebrating Columbus Day.
"As a matter of fact, on Columbus Day, when many of the schools and other government entities were off, we were wide open and our employees were at work," Irvin said. "We have a number of cultures here in the city of Aurora. We are a melting pot of cultures. And I would celebrate any culture in the city of Aurora, gladly, just to show that we support all communities."
Adams said it is his and his organization's goal to have Columbus Day replaced as soon as 2019.
"I don't anticipate a lot of resistance but one never knows about these things. They can become very political and very emotional overnight," he said. "We just want to make sure we're not rewriting history but that we're writing history correctly in Aurora."