By Brooke A. Lewis

A local group of Native Americans on Tuesday asked the City Council to stop celebrating Columbus Day and instead mark Indigenous Peoples' Day on the federal holiday named for the Italian explorer. Christopher Columbus "did not discover us," Anna Edwards, a member of the Ohkay Owingeh tribe, told council members at their meeting. "In fact, we discovered him lost at sea. When he set foot on this land, it was not barren and desolate. But instead there were over 400 independent nations that covered the northern and southern continents, rich with our own governments, culture, and rich with our own histories."

Tuesday's pleas follow several years of efforts by local Native Americans to end the celebration of Columbus Day in the nation's fourth-largest city. Indigenous Peoples' Day is also known as Native American Day.

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Source: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/