The New Hampshire House of Representatives voted down a bill Tuesday that would have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
The language from the bill imagined Indigenous Peoples’ Day as “a time for New Hampshire residents to reflect on the continuing struggles of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.”
The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Wayne Burton, a Democrat from Durham, which last year became the first town in the state to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day in lieu of Columbus Day.
Opponents of the bill raised concerns about disrespecting the Italian heritage of Christopher Columbus.
Lawmakers voted to send the bill to interim study, a status many bills never recover from.
