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Move To Abolish Columbus Day Moves Ahead

A movement to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day is gaining momentum.

Los Angeles recently became the biggest city yet to stop honoring the Italian explorer. Austin, Texas, followed suit last week. In New York City, where 35,000 people will march in Monday's Columbus Day parade, vandals recently doused a Columbus statue in red paint.

One attempt to dump Columbus Day in Akron, Ohio, opened a racial rift on the city council.

The debate over Columbus' legacy is an old one, but it became emotionally charged after a similar debate in the South over monuments to Confederate generals flared into violence at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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