Above: A drum circle gathered outside City Council before the first hearing

Above: A drum circle gathered outside City Council before the first hearing to replace Columbus Day on Sept. 2.

The saga to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Seattle last left off in a markedly heated City Council hearing that councilmember Nick Licata called” possibly one of the most passionate and emotional committee sessions we’ve had in years.”

While the full City Council is set to vote on the measure on Oct. 6, the Seattle School Board leapfrogged them last night by unanimously voting to observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day in public schools on the second Monday of October, the same day as Columbus Day. The resolution (below) cites the School Board’s recognition of “the fact that Seattle is built upon the homelands and villages of the Indigenous Peoples of this region, without whom the building of the City would not have been possible” as well as its “responsibility to oppose the systematic racism towards Indigenous people in the United States, which perpetuates high rates of poverty and income inequality.”

The resolution the City Council will vote on Oct. 6 includes a clause asking Seattle Public Schools to add indigenous studies into history and social studies curriculum, a measure the School Board also effectively incorporated ahead of time in their own resolution passed last night, pledging to “include the teaching of the history, culture and government of the indigenous peoples of our state.”