The Seattle City Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday commemorating “Indigenous People’s Day,” which will be celebrated every year on the second Monday of October, aka the federal Columbus Day holiday. The city’s mayor is expected to sign the resolution on Columbus Day next week, the Guardian reports, though it will be a purely symbolic gesture, as Seattle City Council resolutions are not legal acts in the first place. The Seattle Times says that “scores” of Native American activists left the council’s meeting in high spirits:
“It’s beautiful to see,” said Matt Remle, a Seattle resident of Lakota heritage who wrote the first draft of the resolution, “the people walking out with smiles on their faces. Bringing that good energy and spirit to the people is what this was all about”…
Washington is among the states that don’t recognize Columbus Day as a legal holiday, and Columbus Day is not a Seattle holiday.
Minneapolis passed a similar resolution earlier this year, while South Dakota has celebrated “Native American Day” in October since 1989.
