DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — The City Council has decided Davenport will mark Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct. 9, not Columbus Day.
The Quad-City Times reports that the council made the proclamation at its meeting Wednesday at the request of the Native American Coalition of the Quad-Cities.
Coalition President Regina Tsosie and board member Tom Morrell approached the city through its Civil Rights Commission last month about petitioning for the proclamation. They shared their concerns about celebrating Christopher Columbus and the history of mistreatment of Native Americans locally.
Indigenous Peoples Day began in 1977 at the United Nations-sponsored International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the America.
