Opinion: 5 reasons for Indigenous People's Day in Minneapolis

1) Setting history straighter: Celebrating Columbus Day reduces history to a simple-minded story, and one that's wrong on a lot of counts. He "discovered America?" Not exactly — there were already plenty of people living in the Americas.

2) Rejecting genocide: A legacy of racism and genocide began with Columbus and continued with those who came after him. He claimed the land and waters that indigenous people already farmed, fished and hunted. Then the genocide began: enslaving the Arawak and Taino people, working them to death in mines, and killing them outright.

3) Recognizing contributions of indigenous people: Renaming the holiday is a small beginning in recognizing their historic and ongoing contributions to history, culture, and economic life.

4) Healing the wounds of centuries of racism: That's a long journey. This is one step on the road.

5) Honoring indigenous people — in Minnesota, and around the world — by renaming the holiday as Indigenous People's Day. (South Dakota already celebrates Native American Day instead of Columbus Day.)