TV news reports on Indigenous Peoples Day plus comedy for Canadian Thanksgiving

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving and Indigenous Peoples Day! For today's celebration, I'm flipping the two around to observe Indigenous Peoples Day, which I used to call Native American Day, with TV news reports about the day first.

I begin with WROC in Rochester, New York, which has the best summary of the issues surrounding the day I've found so far: Celebrating Indigenous People's Day.

Monday is Columbus Day but many people are choosing to celebrate Indigenous People's Day which focuses on the contributions of Native Americans in our society.

When I posted I haven't seen this many statues fall since the end of the Cold War, it struck me that many of the statues were of Christopher Columbus in addition to Confederate monuments. WROC quantified it as seven statues defaced, destroyed, or removed. It's not just Black lives who matter, but indigenous ones, too!

ABC 13 in Houston reported Houston recognizes Indigenous Peoples Day today from the former site of Houston's Columbus statue.

The city council voted last month to recognize the holiday today, in addition to Columbus Day, but the decision was highly debated.

That clip shows small-d democratic government in action, including arguments from all sides. The next video, State Officials To Announce Legislation To Change Columbus Day To Indigenous Peoples' Day from CBS Chicago, shows citizen activism for inclusion in a decision by a democratic government in action at a site where a Columbus statue also stood.

Another is underway in in Arrigo Park, a place that has significance for Italian Americans in Chicago. It's where a Columbus statue once stood.

I'm not surprised the Italian-Americans are objecting; it was their day as well as Columbus's and they can claim that the descendants of immigrants who came centuries after Columbus had nothing to do with the dispossession of the natives. That written, I expected that same reaction in Boston, where I spent two summers, and where there is a large and influential Italian-American community, but that didn't show up in CBS Boston's Rally In Boston Calls For Indigenous Peoples' Day To Replace Columbus Day.  Maybe that shows Italian-Americans' opposition is not universal.

A rally in Boston on Saturday called for the Boston City Council and Mayor Marty Walsh to create Indigenous Peoples' Day to replace Columbus Day. WBZ-TV's Ken MacLeod has the story.

CBS Boston's report is about the support for the change in observance, not the opposition. So is Indigenous Peoples's Day from KTSM 9 News in El Paso, Texas.



The previous videos were more about the opinions and reactions of non-indigenous people than the people the day celebrates. Not this clip, where the local indigenous people are front and center, as they should be.

Now to celebrate the holiday I traditionally do on this day with Brittlestar's Explaining Canadian Thanksgiving To Americans.


HAHAHAHAHA! That comedy makes for a good palate cleanser after all the serious business of Indigenous Peoples Day.

Once again, Happy Indigenous Peoples Day and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!