LA hails indigenous public

Los Angeles – The city of Los Angeles celebrated its first Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday, joining the growing ranks of local governments across the US replacing the traditional Columbus Day holiday with observances of Native American history and culture.

The daylong commemoration began with a sunrise ceremony by native American residents, some in traditional dress, followed by a five-kilometre run through downtown led by city councillor Mitch O’Farrell, himself a member of the Wyandotte Nation.

O’Farrell was principal sponsor of legislation the council passed last year designating the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples Day in place of Columbus Day in the nation’s second-largest city.

The inaugural observance was capped on Monday night with an outdoor concert headlined by the Black Eyed Peas and the Native American rock band Redbone.

Los Angeles, whose earliest settlers belonged to the Gabrielino-Tongva peoples, is home to the largest indigenous population of any US city, according to the University of California, Los Angeles.

A growing number of US cities have replaced Columbus Day with a holiday honouring indigenous people. Others include San Francisco; Denver; Seattle; Minneapolis; Anchorage, Alaska; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Critics of Columbus Day say it has perpetuated a false historical narrative surrounding Christopher Columbus, the explorer credited with “discovering America” when the first of his four trans-Atlantic voyages for the Spanish crown landed on an inhabited island of the Bahamas in 1492. – Reuters