Move over Columbus, Boulder & Denver have officially made the second Monday in October Indigenous Peoples Day!

  Denver and Boulder have officially followed in the footsteps of a handful of US Cities that are phasing out Columbus Day. As of this past Tuesday in Denver and Boulder, the two Colorado cities have done away with the historically debatable recognition of Columbus day, in honor of those whose land America was to begin with.   As a child, I was in accelerated learning classes so I didn’t get your run-of-the-mill lessons on Christopher Columbus. Celebrating Columbus day always confused me. This man, found the wrong country, and not only that, wasn’t even the first explorer to reach the Americas, *cough* Leif Erikson, 500 years before Columbus *cough*. Despite this, CC’s voyage did ignite the Western expansion to the “new world,” but therein lies another issue I had with the day -- the world wasn’t new. We surrounded an entire day, a day off of school even, to the glorification of taking over another’s peoples’ land and claiming it as our own. Leaving those of Native descent to wallow in an entire day of their peoples wrongful treatment centuries ago. That is why Denver and Boulder’s movement toward Indigenous Peoples Day is so great. State Rep. Joe Salazar, D- Thornton, authored a bill earlier this year aiming to replace Columbus day in Colorado to “Indigenous Peoples Day.” This past Tuesday he went on to tell the council that the Boulder proposal would help “honor what has happened in this country.” For those who may not be 100% up on what exactly happened in this country other than after-school-special Thanksgiving version of it all. Historian Margaret Coel, expert on the Arapaho people in Colorado, threw in the punch that tens of thousands of white gold prospectors came upon the area in the 1850s, and stripped the land of its natives. The Arapahos were rightfully shocked. “They thought all the white people in the world had come to the plains,” Coel said. Within six years, all the people who once had thriving lives and communities were driven off their lands. Then, for awful reasons, in 1864, many of the Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians remaining in Colorado were killed in the southeastern part of the state in what is known as the Sand Creek Massacre - an event resulting in an estimated 230 deaths of peaceful people. Coel continued, “This is our history, and I’m of the opinion that those of us who don’t know our history are condemned to repeat it.” Rightfully said. If I could send her applause through my computer screen I would, but this article will have to do. [gallery size="large" ids="2635,2638"] After hearing from the speakers, officials chimed in with their own two-cents on the issue facing Native American injustice. Before the vote was cast Boulder Mayor Suzanne Jones remarked to the speakers, “I’m sorry it took so long.” Now that the holiday-change has passed in both Boulder and Denver, the day is all about celebrating Native American culture. Several activities and commemorations will take place to honor the Native peoples that have been a part of our country’s history long before Chris came along.    

History buff? Check out our Throw Back Thursday of Colorado Then & Now.