About 50 people gathered by the statue of Christopher Columbus in the eastern Inner Harbor on Friday afternoon to demand that Baltimore and Maryland officials replace his annual eponymous October holiday with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, honoring the native communities who were harmed by the European explorer’s voyages.
Protestors bearing signs with messages like “You Are On Native Land" and “Columbus did not ‘discover’ us!” listened and applauded as speakers advocated for the change. Indigenous Strong, an advocacy group representing Maryland’s tens of thousands of Native Americans, organized the rally to “re-energize efforts" to replace Columbus Day.
