Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day?
Join us and tell your reps how you feel!
What’s the story?
Today, the second Monday in October, the United States celebrates… well, that depends which city you’re in.
In New York, much of midtown Manhattan was blocked earlier today for the Columbus Day Parade. Across the country, in Los Angeles, people turned out for Indigenous Peoples Day — both the L.A. City Council and Board of Supervisors recently voted on the name change, to be implemented no later than 2019.
"This week marks 525 years since Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas," history professor Steven W. Hackel wrote in an op-ed in the L.A. Times. “Nobody questions the historical significance of that feat, but how we understand Columbus and his place in world history has changed dramatically over the centuries.”
Should Americans continue celebrating Columbus Day?
Why does it matter?
The headline of that op-ed in the L.A. Times: "Why L.A. is right to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day."
The headline of an op-ed on Fox News: "Why celebrate Columbus Day? Here are a few reasons."
Before launching an exploration of America’s divisiveness on Columbus, let’s take a quick look at why he’s a contentious figure.
There are four main sources of controversy involving the Italian explorer’s interaction with the Native Americans he labeled "Indians":
Columbus did not "discover" America — there were indigenous people living here before he arrived.
The Europeans forced the Old World inhabitants into slavery, or used violence against them.
Native people were forced to convert to Christianity.
The Old World introduced devastating new diseases.
Very little of this information was included in early American textbooks.
"Throughout the 1800s and 1900s, civic leaders hailed Columbus as the man who brought culture and civilization to the Americas and in so doing planted the seeds that grew into the democratic republic of the United States," Hackel wrote in the L.A. Times. This led to honorifics for the “proto-Founding Father” in statues, monuments, street names, and city names.
"All this adoration culminated in 1937, when, following massive Italian immigration to the U.S., the federal government proclaimed a national holiday in his honor."
How far have we come in the 80 years since?
"Ohio's capital city may be named for Christopher Columbus," Fox News wrote this week, “but that hasn't stopped the city council of Oberlin, Ohio, from voting to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous People’s Day.”
More than 60 cities from Bangor to Milwaukee to Washington have supported the idea of #IndigenousPeoplesDay.
Happy #IndigenousPeoplesDay! pic.twitter.com/bux2X50Rm8
— Raymond Vagell 🌈🐒 (@PrancingPapio) October 9, 2017
But there are lot more than 60 cities in the U.S. and many more with streets named after the explorer. Steve Kurtz, a producer for Fox News, wrote in his op-ed that history "is the story of conquest" and that the controversies surrounding Columbus discount that his behavior was “part of the times.” Kurtz lists the following as reasons to celebrate Columbus Day:
Celebrates Italians — "Columbus Day is a good chance to recognize what Italians have contributed to America, and the world." (Indeed, Italians are not pleased with L.A.’s plans to replace Columbus Day.)
Celebrates exploration—"It took tremendous bravery to sail off into the unknown. One of the best parts of our humanity is that sense of discovery."
"Celebrate[s] the spread of Western civilization. Lately a lot of people have been putting down Western civilization, but its spread is one of the greatest things that’s ever happened to humanity."
President Donald Trump released a statement on Friday about the holiday that echoed many of these sentiments. Trump lauded Columbus for "setting the stage for the development of our great Nation" and “inspiring countless others to pursue their dreams and convictions—even in the face of extreme doubt and tremendous adversity.” There was no mention of indigenous people.
What do you think?
Do you agree with L.A. Councilman Mike Bonin that "this gesture of replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day is a very small step in apologizing and in making amends"? Or do you agree with an Oberlin, Ohio resident that “I think we should keep American holidays the way there are”? Hit Take Action, tell your reps what you’d like to be celebrating today, then share your thoughts below.
—Josh Herman
(Photo Credit: bdsklo / iStockphoto)
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