By Rachel Sawicki

The list of cities, counties and states that are replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day is ever growing.

It started with South Dakota in 1991, but the holiday has never been adopted on a federal level until this year. President Joe Biden signed the first presidential proclamation on Friday declaring Oct. 11 Indigenous Peoples Day.

But the word “indigenous” is a broad term that doesn’t acknowledge American Indians specifically, according to Dennis “White Otter” Coker, Principal Chief of the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware.

Delaware currently does not recognize Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day as a state holiday.

“What Biden did was put a broad brush across it,” Chief Coker said. “The United States already has Native American Heritage Day, which is the day after Thanksgiving, during Native American Heritage Month. So, is Biden honoring those other indigenous people, or are they putting them all in one basket, and honoring them all together? In that case you have to honor all those other indigenous cultures too.”

In 2009, President Barack Obama signed “The Native American Heritage Day Resolution 2009,” designating the Friday after Thanksgiving as “Native American Heritage Day.” The resolution had unanimous support in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate and was signed into law, but the holiday is in competition with Black Friday sales and shoppers anticipating Christmas.

Indigenous Peoples Day does not have congressional approval to be signed into law. In 2019, the D.C. Council voted to rename Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, but the change only lasted one year.

Chief Coker said that a lot of Native Americans choose to celebrate the UN holiday, International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, rather than erase Columbus Day. The word “indigenous” is a broad term in this case as well.

“The original people of Germany are indigenous to Germany, the original people of Spain are indigenous to Spain, the indigenous people of England are indigenous to England, and it’s those indigenous cultures that destroyed our indigenous culture,” Chief Coker said. “So when you celebrate indigenous peoples everywhere… which indigenous people are you referring to?”

The White House statement proclaiming Indigenous Peoples Day recognizes American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, and also commits respect for people “around the world.”

“For generations, federal policies systematically sought to assimilate and displace Native people and eradicate Native cultures,” President Biden said in a White House statement. “Today, we recognize Indigenous peoples’ resilience and strength as well as the immeasurable positive impact that they have made on every aspect of American society. We also recommit to supporting a new, brighter future of promise and equity for Tribal Nations — a future grounded in Tribal sovereignty and respect for the human rights of Indigenous people in the Americas and around the world.”

As a proclamation, the celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day is subject to change depending on who is in power. Ty Gould Jacinto, from the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape of New Jersey, said that a real, federally recognized, indigenous holiday is long overdue.

“Not to take away from the one that has already existed, but it’s just a proclamation,” she said. “We don’t know what the deep meaning is. Is it because (Biden’s) popularity is tanking? You always question the politicians because there’s usually a motive behind everything.”

President Biden also issued a statement about Columbus Day, honoring the role and contributions of Italian-Americans today, but acknowledging the “painful history of wrongs and atrocities that many European explorers inflicted on Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities.”

Ms. Jancito said that erasing Columbus Day altogether would be repeating the vicious cycle of erasing someone’s culture, good or bad.

“My opinion would be to create a brand new holiday, instead of a recycled old holiday,” she said. “It would eliminate hard feelings because we have Italian friends, especially in Philadelphia. Why would we erase something that they’ve done as a culture and replace it with something?”

She notes that Columbus Day has negative connotations for Native Americans and many are in favor of having Indigenous Peoples Day coincide with the harvest moon in September, which has more meaning to Native Americans.

“Forgotten history repeats itself,” Ms. Jancito said. “I never want to be on the side of controversy, so if somebody wants to change the holiday to Indigenous People Day, that’s fine. But if you’re going to do something, then have consideration and compassion for those who also celebrate Columbus Day, good or bad, but have their heart on that day.”

Ruth Ann Purchase, cultural mapping program manager for the Lenape Tribe of Delaware, said that local indigenous people would rather not anger any Italian-Americans who recognize Columbus Day.

“And there is an effort to keep peaceful relations and allow them to transition into more respectful holidays in their own ethnic orientation, and allow Native Americans to keep their own holidays,” Ms. Purchase said.

Ultimately, Chief Coker is calling on President Biden and other government leaders to communicate with tribal leaders about their wants and needs.

“Every story that’s been written about the American Indian has been written from the eurocentric perspective,” he said. “The requirement should always be to include you in the conversation. If you’re writing a story about a people, and you haven’t talked to those people, what worth is the story?”