A cultural divide over observing Columbus Day

MORGANTOWN, W.Va (WDTV) - A cultural divide brought many together at the committee of the whole meeting for the Morgantown City Council.

Residents said they were fighting to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day.

The idea behind this change was to celebrate people of native descent that were in the Americas before Columbus arrived.

Many people shared they were not proud of the way Columbus treated Native Americans.

Historians said the controversy stems from the fact that Columbus enslaved natives and also took their land.

Some Italian Americans fought against this change as they felt this would take away from their history in the Americas.

One resident said that Columbus Day was not about Columbus the person but the Italian culture. That the resident said was brought over the ocean with Columbus.

After many personal testimonials at the meeting, Morgantown City Council decided against moving forward with a resolution to eliminate Columbus Day.

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