In late summer, Durham became the first New Hampshire municipality to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. Now, at the urging of the Durham Town Council, two Durham state representatives hope the state will follow suit. House Bill 1604, sponsored by State Reps. Wayne Burton and Timothy Horrigan to rename the holiday, will be the subject of a House committee hearing on Wednesday in Concord before the Executive Departments and Administration Committee.

Burton said the proposed change would send a message that honoring indigenous people is important. “The original explorers were not virtuous people,” Burton said. ”(Christopher) Columbus was especially vicious with his treatment of indigenous people. That’s not a behavior we should honor.”