There’s a movement underway to also recognize Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and Traverse City is the first community in Michigan to recognize it as such. Celebrations were planned Monday at Northwestern Michigan College with music. Jose Mathus, with the Indigenous Alliance Without Borders, says he’d like to see more respect for the positive role indigenous people have played in American history.
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Some backers of Indigenous Peoples’ Day say that calling the day Columbus Day fails to recognize that Christopher Columbus’ arrival brought previously unknown diseases to North America, which ravaged the local tribes. Also, settlers’ clashes with the tribes resulted in much bloodshed.
