New York school district renames Columbus Day 'Indigenous People's Day'

PLATTSBURGH, New York – Public schools in this northeast New York State community have voted to replace Columbus Day with “Indigenous People’s Day” in response to a student survey showing Native Americans prefer the change.

School board members approved the renaming on a 5-2 vote Thursday night. A large gathering of students, parents and residents broke out in applause.

Students in a sixth-grade social studies class at Stafford Middle School triggered the change last fall when they read what they considered Christopher Columbus’s greed and cruelty toward Hispaniola natives when he discovered the Americas in the 15th century.

http://www.moultrieobserver.com/news/new-york-school-district-renames-columbus-day-indigenous-people-s/article_f956c2ee-dd84-11e5-8396-a38571346134.html