Indigenous Peoples’ Day now a state holiday in Minnesota

Representative Liish Kozlowski of Duluth

DULUTH, Minn. – Indigenous Peoples’ Day is being celebrated for the first time today as a state-recognized holiday in Minnesota.

State Representative Alicia Kozlowski of Duluth says it was way past time that state lawmakers replaced Columbus Day and move away from that celebration of colonization and to move forward and step into reclaiming and really celebrating Indigenous people here in Minnesota who have been erased out of the history books.

Kozlowski was raised by an Ojibwe grandmother and calls this state holiday a “really big deal.” Minneapolis and New Brighton are two communities that closed city offices for Indigenous Peoples’ Day.