Latest news with #IndigenousPeoples'Day
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Senate President Troy Jackson enters race for governor
Maine Senate President Troy Jackson speaks at a Wabanaki Alliance rally on Indigenous Peoples' Day at the Maine State House in Augusta. Oct. 9, 2023. (Photo: Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star) Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson is running for governor in the 2026 election. The fifth-generation logger announced Monday that he will join the Democratic primary, saying in a news release from his campaign that 'too many Democrats have lost touch with working people or shown they're not up to the fight.' 'I know what it's like to punch a clock, live paycheck to paycheck, be treated like I didn't matter while some billionaire got rich off my back – and how to turn that feeling of powerlessness into action,' he added. Jackson is the fourth Democrat to join the race. He will face Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who announced her bid in late March, as well as Kenneth Pinet and Angus King III, the son of independent senator and former governor Angus King Jr., who announced his run earlier this month. The Allagash-native said he is running for governor to help not only working families and seniors, but also to build a Maine where the children raised here can afford to stay. During his time as a legislator, Jackson focused on lowering prescription drug costs, passing universal school meals, as well as securing funding for rural hospitals and veterans' homes. He termed out last year. Jackson is kicking off his campaign with a statewide tour from Kittery to Madawaska. It starts Monday with a rally at the Kittery Town Wharf followed by a tour of Auburn Manufacturing, Inc. and the Lockwood Mill in Waterville. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Columbus Day dispute simmers in Nevada as lawmaker pushes Indigenous Peoples' Day change
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A day after President Donald Trump declared he was 'bringing Columbus Day back,' a Nevada Democrat presented a bill in Carson City that would officially move Indigenous Peoples' Day to the second Monday in October. State law currently designates Aug. 9 as Indigenous Peoples' Day, but it is widely celebrated on the same day as Columbus Day. Assem. Shea Backus, who represents District 37 in the northwest Las Vegas valley, calls herself an 'urban Indian,' one of 60,000 who call Nevada home. She noted there are 20 federally recognized tribes including tribal members from 28 bands and colonies. Nevada is the ancestral homeland to people of the Northern Paiute, Southern Paiute, Western Shoshone, Washoe and Fort Mojave tribes. Backus emphasizes that the bill doesn't change Columbus Day, but the issue still touches a nerve for Jill Douglass, who calls it 'the bill that seeks to erase Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples' Day.' Most people used the phone line to protest, but Douglass showed up in person at the Legislature's Las Vegas offices on Warm Springs Road. 'We should not tear down another important part of our history. We should not rewrite our shared story to fit a political agenda,' Douglass said. Joshua Skaggs, legislative affairs director for the Nevada Republican Party, read Trump's statement, posted Sunday on social media: 'I'm bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes. The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation and all of the Italians that love him so much.' Assembly Bill 144 (AB144) was first heard on Feb. 11. It advanced to the Senate on April 15 on a 27-15 vote. The resentment voiced by the bill's opponents was matched by the passion of people who support the change. Noé Orosco, government affairs manager for Make the Road Nevada, invoked indigenous names — including Abya Yala — of the lands that we think of now as the Americas. 'These are more than just words. They are the memories of migration, of knowledge systems that understood the land as a relative, not as a resource,' he said. 'Our stories have been systematically overlooked, distorted or silenced through centuries of colonization, violence and cultural genocide. Recognizing Indigenous Peoples' Day is not solely for the benefit of indigenous people, it is an opportunity for all of us to gain a fuller, more accurate understanding of our shared histories,' Orosco said. Sydney Williams, a member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, said, 'AB144 is not about creating something new, it's about aligning state law with the truth of what already exists.' Williams said the holiday is already being celebrated in October. 'Passing this bill is a necessary step towards respect, visibility and a good-faith relationship with Nevada's indigenous peoples. It costs nothing, yet it carries a profound meaning for communities that have long been overlooked,' she said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
28-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Fact-Checking Trump's Claims About Columbus Day
President Trump declared on Sunday that he would bring 'Columbus Day back from the ashes' and reinstate its celebration as a holiday. 'I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!' the president said in a post on Truth Social, referring to the federal holiday named for Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer who sailed to the Americas on behalf of Spain more than 500 years ago. The holiday has long been criticized by those who condemn the explorer for paving the way for European colonialism, which brought catastrophic diseases and led to the decimation of Indigenous populations in America. But Columbus Day was never canceled as a federal holiday, and the second Monday in October is still widely referred to as such in the United States, and for many, it remains an important part of Italian American heritage. With his declaration, Mr. Trump appeared to be referring to a proclamation issued by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2021. That decree also recognized the day as Indigenous Peoples' Day, which recognizes the Indigenous communities that have lived in the Americas for thousands of years, and called for it to be celebrated alongside Columbus Day. 'The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much,' Mr. Trump claimed in his social media post on Sunday. In 2021, Mr. Biden became the first American president to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day, vowing to 'honor America's first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations that continue to thrive today.' But Mr. Biden did not rename the longstanding holiday, which is still officially known as Columbus Day. While several states and dozens of cities recognize the holiday as Indigenous Peoples' Day, it is not considered a federal holiday, though there have been occasional efforts in Congress to make it one. Mr. Biden's 2021 declaration came amid heightened public debate about the erasure of Indigenous people in celebrations of Christopher Columbus, whose landing in North America led to centuries of exploitation and slaughter of Native American populations. At the time, dozens of Christopher Columbus statues were taken down, many in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests that followed the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
Irish Daily Star
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Daily Star
Donald Trump to bring national holiday 'back from ashes' but people spot problem
President Donald Trump says he will bring a national holiday "back from the ashes" - though people are spotting a problem with the POTUS' plan. In a post to Truth Social, the social media app established by Trump following his ban from X , the sitting president confirmed he would reinstate Columbus Day "under the same rules" as it had been originally presented. But the public are finding a problem with the plan to reinstate the holiday, which Trump promises will be a "major comeback" for the celebration. Several people have pointed out the reinstatement of the holiday will not, in fact, reinstate the holiday , as the day of celebration was never outlawed. Trump's post to Truth Social reads: "I'm bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes. The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much. "They tore down his statues, and put up nothing but 'WOKE,' or even worse, nothing at all" Well, you'll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback. I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!" Columbus Day is a federal holiday which celebrates the arrival of Columbus to the Americas on October 12, 1492. Some states including Colorado, Hawaii, and New Mexico, do not celebrate the day and instead host an Indigenous Peoples' Day. Other days of celebration are also held as an alternative to Columbus Day, with Columbus, Ohio, choosing to honor veterans instead of the city's namesake. It became a federal holiday in 1937, which means the only people guaranteed a paid day off are federal employees, as government offices will be closed, as well as banks. Members of the public on X have pointed out Trump would not be bringing the holiday "back from the ashes" as it had already been celebrated by previous president Joe Biden . President Trump's claim of bringing back the holiday was ridiculed by some (file) (Image: Getty Images) One user wrote: "Judging by Trump's approval ratings, most Americans have already caught on to his performative b******t. Anyway, the truth is, Columbus Day didn't go anywhere. Here's Biden celebrating it just last year." Another quoted Trump's decision to reinstate the holiday and added a clown emoji to the end of the quote. Other users have suggested Trump is "insane" for claiming he will revive a holiday still actively practiced in parts of the US. One person even joked Trump would "announce that he has revived Christmas" in future. Another said it was "misleading" for Trump to claim he was reintroducing the federal holiday. But not everyone was disappointed to see Trump claim he would reinstate Columbus Day, with some hoping it would see further holidays added to the calendar. One wrote: "Leif Erickson should have his own day! Or what about our country's namesake he doesn't even his own day." Another user posted a GIF of The Sopranos' character Tony Soprano, who is seen saying: "In this house, Christopher Columbus is a hero."
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Announces Plan to Bring Columbus Day Back ‘From the Ashes'
President Donald Trump has vowed to bring Columbus Day 'back from the ashes.' In a Truth Social post Sunday, the president announced that he would be 'reinstating' the federal holiday and blamed the Democratic Party for doing 'everything possible' to 'destroy' the reputation of its namesake, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. 'I'm bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes. The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much,' Trump penned. 'They tore down his Statues, and put up nothing but 'WOKE,' or even worse, nothing at all! Well, you'll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback. I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!' he concluded. While Columbus Day is still a federal holiday, several states and cities have moved to celebrate the second Monday in October as 'Indigenous Peoples' Day' instead. The change was made to recognize the colonial violence Columbus inflicted on Native communities in the 15th century. Reckoning with Columbus' controversial history has also resulted in several of his statues being removed from locations across the country. CBS News reported in 2020 that at least 33 Columbus statues had been removed, or were in the process of being removed, over the course of a few months. In 2021, former President Joe Biden became the first president to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day and said in a proclamation at the time, 'For generations, Federal policies systematically sought to assimilate and displace Native people and eradicate Native cultures.' '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,' he continued.
