GLEN ROCK — The Borough Council voted unanimously Wednesday night not to replace the Columbus Day holiday with Indigenous Peoples' Day, ending a debate that had started as a community discussion but quickly spread.

The overflow crowd on Wednesday included members of the Italian American One Voice Coalition, which opposes efforts to do away with Columbus Day.

“The people who are operating on this idea of changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day are working strictly on propaganda, and not on the facts,” Andre DiMino, executive board member of the Italian American coalition, told the council.

“The reason Columbus is targeted today in such a hateful and arduous manner is because he brought Western Civilization values, including Christianity, to the New World, which is why so many of these activists hate him," DiMino said. "Please don’t fall for this hoax.”

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Attendees, many of them members of Italian American heritage groups in New Jersey, overwhelmingly supported keeping Columbus Day. While speakers gave varied opinions as to why, one message was echoed by nearly all of them – to change the holiday is to disregard its importance to Italian Americans.

One audience member who spoke in favor of the change was twice interrupted by boos.

“We should be straightforward about what we are doing and call it ‘Italian Heritage Day.’ We should not continue to celebrate a man who did terrible things to human beings,” said resident Rebecca Coll, recalling her decision to take down an online petition because of the vitriolic comments it drew.

“This idea is not radical. It is not extreme. It is mainstream around the country, and I think it’s inevitable here, too,” she said.

Councilman Mike O’Hagan made a motion Wednesday – unanimously approved by the council – not to remove Columbus Day from the borough calendar, and to consider an Indigenous Peoples’ Day at a later time.

What started last month as an informal discussion in the borough, prompted by a few requests for the change, ballooned into a wider debate fueled by social media.

Borough officials received 14 emails requesting the holiday be changed to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and it was discussed at the April 24 council meeting. Agreeing to field more comments from residents, the council next met on Wednesday, this time to an overflow crowd.

The federal holiday of Columbus Day, celebrated the second Monday in October, honors the Italian explorer who arrived in the Americas in 1492. In recent years, Columbus has been viewed through a less favorable lens by some because of harm inflicted against native populations.

More than 60 United States cities, including Newark, have replaced Columbus Day with holidays honoring Native Americans

In the face of the controversy, Glen Rock Mayor Bruce Packer stood by his decision to bring the topic to the council, saying the residents’ request for a discussion had merit. At the same time, he repeatedly pointed out that it was not him or council members who first raised the issue.

“My bringing it to the table is not a judgment on the issue, it’s the fact that I feel we need to discuss it,” Packer said.