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San Francisco Replaces Columbus Day With Indigenous Peoples Day

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/AP) -- San Francisco supervisors are replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.

They say they want to honor Native American people and condemn the atrocities they suffered. "Correcting our history and the history of a native people that were brutally both slaughtered and killed off by disease," said Supervisor Hillary Ronen.

Los Angeles and Minneapolis are among the dozens of cities, along with some states and universities, that already have renamed the holiday to celebrate people who were here before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.

California already recognizes Indigenous Peoples Day on the fourth Friday in September and the month of November.

The vote was 10-to-1 with Supervisor Aaron Peskin voting no. He represents the historically Italian North Beach neighborhood.

But Tuesday's vote has upset some Italian Americans who say they're losing the October holiday meant to celebrate their unique heritage.

"We've been calling it Italian Heritage Day now for 20 years," said Guido Perego of the North Beach SF Italian Athletic Club. "So my question is: why didn't the city do the same and change it to Italian Heritage Day?"

"Our proposal is to officially rename the day to Italian American Heritage Day, so do not take the day away from us entirely," said Nick Figone of the North Beach SF Italian Athletic Club.

Supervisor Norman Yee said he hopes the board can find a way to honor Italian Americans.

© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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