Mitchell quoted in BDN article on possible Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Orono
Penobscot John Bear Mitchell, a lecturer in Wabanaki studies at the University of Maine, spoke with the Bangor Daily News about Orono considering to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The town would join a growing number of locales, such as Bangor and Belfast, that are shifting the focus away from Christopher Columbus, according to the article. Mitchell said the time has come to correct history. “Columbus had nothing to do with the discovery of North America,” he said. “Because of this, we are actually writing the history as it exactly was.”