International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

August 9 is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Pronounced by the UN in 1994, the holiday calls attention to the plights of indigenous peoples, many of whom have land upon which others have settled. Here in New York, long a bastion of radical reinvention and social uproar, the holiday is seen as a more peaceful and multicultural alternative to October’s Columbus Day. Much has been made of the plight of the Lenape, Mohicans, Algonquins, Minettas, Iroquois, and Canarsies, among others, on the islands of New York.

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