SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE

Millions of Americans Could Get Extra Day Off Work

Plans for an official Native American Day cleared a major hurdle in California.

State workers in California could get an additional paid holiday to celebrate Native Americans if legislation from a Democratic lawmaker passes. Assemblymember James Ramos, the first Indigenous American elected to California’s legislature, authored a bill to propose making the fourth Friday in September a celebration of the indigenous people and their culture. The proposal received a major boost last week after the Assembly Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the measure to bring in Native American Day in California. Ramos also hopes that the day will go some way to highlight the suffering experienced by Native Americans in the state. “Most Californians know little about the bloody history that built this state,” Ramos said in a statement. “They picture romanticized missions, the Gold Rush, the Transcontinental Railroad, not the genocide, violence, enslavement, and dispossession of Native Americans.” In 2019, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a formal apology to Native Americans on behalf of California, and said the atrocities committed against them amounted to a “genocide.” While Native American Day is already recognized as an optional holiday for state workers, Ramos’ legislation would reposition it as an official paid holiday alongside Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Independence Day.