This is a partial reprise of a post I did in 2019, but with some revisions/additions/updates.

Last Friday, 7 October 2022, President Biden issued the 2nd Presidential Proclamation on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.  There has been a growing movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day and at least ten states have already done so.  Ten other states officially observe the day, though they have not replaced Columbus Day as yet.  In addition, more than 100 cities have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, including Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, Phoenix and San Francisco.

Many students learn the phrase, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”. But Columbus was not the first foreign explorer to land in the Americas. Neither he nor those that came before him discovered America—because Indigenous Peoples have populated the Western Hemisphere for tens of thousands of years. European contact resulted in devastating loss…