Michigan Recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ Day, But For This State Senator That’s Not Enough
State Senator Jeff Irwin co-sponsored a bill to change Columbus Day into Indigenous People’s Day and says Gov. Whitmer’s proclamation was nice, but not enough.
Today is Indigenous People’s Day in many cities and states across the country, and Michigan is the latest to adopt the holiday… sort of.
This morning, Governor Whitmer issued a proclamation that today is Indigenous People’s Day. But is a symbolic gesture now the law of the land?
State Senator Jeff Irwin, who led the legislative push for an effort to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day by co-sponsoring a bill to recognize the second Monday in October as Indigenous People’s Day, came on Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson to discuss this topic.
“I applaud the governor’s action,” says Sen. Irwin. “I still think we need legislative action. We need to enshrine recognition of the very real tribal history here in the state of Michigan.”
Sen. Irwin talks about the the intentions behind Columbus Day and why it’s time for change.
“The intentions of creating Columbus Day were mostly good, we wanted to celebrate our history of immigration, we wanted to honor Italian Americans we wanted to celebrate patriotism in our nation, and Christopher Columbus was chosen as this object. The stories that were built up around Christopher Columbus to serve those interests, as we learn more, we are finding out, just aren’t true.”
