(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Columbus Day is a less than a week away, but Cook County commissioners have not decided if they will eventually eliminate the holiday.
A virtual committee hearing on a proposal to replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Reconciliation Day -- an effort to recognize the Freedmen, or Black people enslaved by Native American tribes -- generated passionate arguments from both camps.
There was passionate arguments from both camps.
Anthony Onesto said he supports reconciliation, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of Italian-Americans. Denay Nation member Les Begay said he worries that efforts to recognize the Freedmen will derail the change.
Commissioners tabled a vote on the resolution that sponsor Brandon Johnson said has sparked fascinating discussions about their own ancestral voyages.
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