
President Biden on Friday became the first present to issue an official proclamation commemorating Indigenous People's Day.
The big picture: Biden's proclamation boosts efforts looking to shift the focus of the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus to the contributions of Native Americans, AP reports.
He made an earlier proclamation for Columbus Day where he acknowledged "the painful history of wrongs and atrocities that many European explorers inflicted on Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities."
Flashback: Biden's position differs from that taken by former President Trump, who last year denounced "radical activists [that] have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy," also referring to people like Columbus as "intrepid heroes."