Easthampton ready to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day
Easthampton Municipal Building, 50 Payson Avenue GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Published: 3/2/2021 7:04:52 PM
EASTHAMPTON The city may soon join a wave of communities around the nation in replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, with the City Council set to vote on a resolution to make the change at its Wednesday night meeting.
If the resolution passes, Easthampton will become the third community in Hampshire County to make the change. The anticipated vote will follow a public hearing.
Councilors Owen Zaret and Salem Derby worked with representatives from local tribes, including the Massachusett and Wampanoag tribes and Nipmuc Nation, Zaret said. Mahtowin Monroe of United American Indians of New England providing language for the resolution, and the Massachusetts-based Italian Americans for Indigenous Peoples Day called for the city to change the holiday.