Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, 13th District, met with members of the Los Angeles City/County Native American Commission on Oct. 9 in commemoration of the City Council’s recent vote to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day on the city calendar.

The new holiday did not officially take effect this year. The ordinance passed by the council instituted a deadline of no later than 2019 to formally make the change.

photo courtesy of the Council District 13 office

The historic action took place after several months of public hearings, including testimony from Angelenos from across the city, as well as academics from UCLA and UC Riverside.

Los Angeles joined a growing list of cities that have adopted policy to declare the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day: Berkeley, Burbank, San Fernando, Denver, Seattle, Anchorage, Portland, Albuquerque, Minneapolis and Santa Cruz, in addition to five states nationwide.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently passed a motion, authored by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis and co-authored by Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, removing Columbus Day as an official county holiday and replacing it with Indigenous Peoples Day.

Native Americans have celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday of October as a day of remembrance of their ancestors, and as a means of dispelling the myth that Columbus discovered America.