Indigenous People's Day Closures Across Southland In 2019

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Many government offices in Orange County shut their doors Monday in celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day, or Columbus Day.

There was no U.S. Mail delivery Monday, however the libraries remained open for business.

Some city services did not shut their doors, such as Laguna Beach, where the city's public works department was busy at work, Monday. The schools are open, as are most grocery stores. Trash pick up is on regular schedule across the county.

Most banks, however, were closed.

In Los Angeles County, government offices were closed Monday. Los Angeles public libraries were closed, though the city of Pasadena made an exception and keeping its main library open.

The Los Angeles City Council voted in 2017 to establish Indigenous Peoples Day as the second Monday in October, replacing the former Columbus Day.

Councilman Mitch O'Farrell, a member of the Wyandotte Nation who led the effort to make the change, said last year that he believed the historical record on Columbus was plain for everyone to see.

"It's time to no longer deny our past but reclaim our history because it's all there for anyone who wants to see it," O'Farrell said.

The National Christopher Columbus Association called for the city to keep Columbus Day before the council voted to cancel it, insisting the explorer was not responsible for the genocide committed by the Europeans who followed him.

"It is a huge error to blame Christopher Columbus, the man, for (genocide) at all," Patrick Korten, a board member of the National Christopher Columbus Association, told City News Service as the City Council was debating the issue in 2017.

Columbus Day still is a federal holiday.