Alaska’s governor and the Anchorage mayor have proclaimed

Alaska’s governor and the Anchorage mayor have proclaimed the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day, the federal holiday that is traditionally called Columbus Day. The proclamation came at the opening of the First Alaskans Institute Elders and Youth Conference. Liz Medicine Crow of the First Alaskans Institute told the Alaska Dispatch News that it was “recognition that Indigenous peoples matter to both the state of Alaska and the Municipality of Anchorage and it gives us a platform to continue to work on equitable law, policy and relationships.”

“It’s about damn time,” said Willie Hensley, a former state legislator and Native leader. “There’s been a lot of repression. It’s time that people are able to feel a lifting of that repression.” The Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board was quick to pass a resolution later that day to also name that second Monday Indigenous People’s Day.