The Bloomington Mayor’s Office will proclaim Oct. 8 Indigenous Peoples' Day on the day nationally recognized as Columbus Day.
The official proclamation will occur at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Dunn Meadow. Bloomington will be the first city in Indiana to recognize Oct. 8 as Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Sophomore Caleb King, founder of the Native American Student Association, originally planned to lead a march to the Monroe County Courthouse as a call to action for Bloomington to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day as an official holiday, according to the event's Facebook page.
King wishes to raise awareness to the fact that Indiana, a state named after American Indians, does not have any federally recognized tribes.
After King contacted the mayor’s office, Mayor John Hamilton decided to make a mayoral proclamation in support of Indigenous Peoples' Day, according to an email to King from Elizabeth Walter, executive assistant in the Office of the Mayor.
This is the second change to the day’s name after Oct. 8 was renamed from Columbus Day to Fall Holiday in 2016.
