Troy considers adding Indigenous People’s Day to Columbus Day celebration

The second Monday in October, celebrated for years as Columbus Day, will be recognized as Indigenous People’s Day in Boston this year.

It is an effort to recognize and celebrate the Massachusetts tribe, who lived where Boston now stands before colonizers arrived.

The Troy City Council was considering a similar move Thursday night.

They plan to vote on a proposal to expand on Columbus Day, adding a nod to indigenous people.

While many communities across the country are replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day, Troy is merging the two observances together.

We know that this year, more states, cities and communities than ever will observe Indigenous People’s Day separately or together with Columbus Day.

Adding to or replacing Columbus Day is part of a larger movement to see a more complete and accurate history of the United States taught in our schools.

Many people refer to it as cancel culture, however Troy City Councilman Anasha Cummings says nothing could be further from the truth.

"There is certainly a place for recognition of Italian Heritage in our city," said Cummings. "We’ve got an amazing Little Italy, we’ve got an amazing Italian culture in the city, but we also have to recognize that the United States was not discovered by Columbus. There were people here already, and we need to recognize those people and their values, and the ways in which they enriched all of us."

The city council was expected to approve the resolution at Thursday’s board meeting.

Councilman Cummings says he hopes adding the indigenous people’s observance to Columbus Day will begin a meaningful dialogue about the truth of American history.

Even though there’s no celebration per se planned in Troy, Grannies for Peace will be conducting their annual Indigenous Peoples Day vigil Monday afternoon, October 11 at the corner of Wolf Road and Central Avenue in Colonie. That event gets underway at 3:30.