Skip to main content
The Portland City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to declare the second Monday in October Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Why the second Monday in October? Well, you might remember the second Monday in October as the day people in other states get out of school and work to mark the fact that, in 1492, a very lost citizen of the Republic of Genoa in a boat landed on the shores of our continent and thought he was the first one here.
It's been something of a scandal ever since.
A press release from the city gave solid reasons for the new holiday:
While the city doesn't actually mention Columbus in their declaration, it's not hard to read between the lines. The movement to get Columbus Day refocused—not on the dude who "found" the continent, but on the people who lived on it before he came and who suffered greatly after—has been in the works since 1977. Berkeley's been celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of Columbus Day since 1992.
Portland has gone one step beyond its usual, constant, proclamation of days (see: Hip-Hop Day, No Meat Day), and made a resolution, which means they worked for a couple months with tribal partners to make sure that in Portland, the second Monday in October is legally Indigenous Peoples' Day.
"The intention is to celebrate a heritage that hasn't been recognized, " the Mayor's spokeswoman, Sara Hottman, tells WW. "Now this is a binding law."
The resolution does not say why Portland comes in behind many cities, including Minneapolis, in naming the day Indigenous Peoples' Day, or whether a holiday can make up for ethnic cleansing.
No word either on whether the resolution will help the effort to breach the Dalles Dam and bring back Celilo Falls.
But it's very clear that you won't get the day off.
Remember: Oregon doesn't officially celebrate Columbus Day so everyone still has to go to work on Oct 12.
Willamette Week