Causes.com
| 10.10.21

Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day?

Should the U.S. stop celebrating Columbus Day?

What's the story?

  • Columbus Day has been a federal holiday since 1937, but a growing number of cities across the U.S. are reconceiving it as Indigenous Peoples' Day.
  • For some, the original holiday honors Christopher Columbus’ achievements and celebrates Italian-American heritage.
  • For others, it unduly vaunts someone who didn’t "discover" America and overlooks the widespread suffering of those already on the continent at the hands of European colonizers.

A brief history

  • Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born explorer who set sail in August 1492, bound for Asia with backing from the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
  • Columbus intended to chart a western sea route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. Instead, on October 12, he landed in the Bahamas, becoming the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings established colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland during the 10th century.
  • Columbus crossed the Atlantic several more times in his life, but it wasn’t until his third trip that he realized he hadn’t reached Asia.
  • In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Columbus Day a national holiday, largely in response to intense lobbying from the Knights of Columbus, an influential Catholic fraternal organization.

Controversy

  • Controversy over Columbus Day dates back to the 19th century, when anti-immigrant groups rejected the holiday because of its association with Catholicism.
  • More recently, Native Americans and other groups have protested the celebration of an event that led to the colonization of the Americas, the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade, and the deaths of millions from murder and disease.

Indigenous Peoples' Day

  • Maine, Oregon, Minnesota, South Dakota, Alaska, North Carolina, New Mexico and at least 130 cities and towns across the country in adopting the change.
  • Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Minnesota, Vermont, Maine, New Mexico, South Dakota, and at least 130 cities and towns across the country have officially replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day.
  • In 2017, the Navajo Nation declared the second Monday of October to be Indigenous Peoples' Day. In its proclamation, the Navajo Nation said:
“Indigenous Peoples' Day shall be an opportunity to celebrate the thriving cultures and positive values of Indigenous Peoples, and shall further be observed to reflect upon the ongoing struggles of Indigenous Peoples.”

What do you think?

Should the U.S. ditch Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples' Day? Why or why not? Tell your reps what you think, then share your thoughts below.

—Sara E. Murphy & Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / THEPALMER; Canva)

  • 55
    Gail
    11/24/2022

    Yes--- we must also celebrate the national day of mourning.

  • 70
    Guardabosques1903
    11/19/2021

    Yes, he was a terrible person, even in his own time. Which is why the Spanish empire at the time even put him in prison.

  • 38
    Kathleen
    10/20/2021

    Indigenous Peoples’ Day, please! Columbus was obviously NOT the first to discover America! Indigenous Peoples’ Day would be a wonderful, long overdue honor to our First Peoples! I lived in Northern Arizona, and there are Navajo and Hopi still living in poverty, and dealing with unearned discrimination. Let’s start paying back at least some of what was stolen from these people!

  • 147
    Jeffrey
    10/20/2021

    I like the idea of recognizing indigenous people. But a day set aside just for them won’t take back the slaughter and eradication of whole tribes and that they still were pushed from land they had been on for generations. For other countries Columbus discovered what he did so that should be recognized. As for the US, I think it should be indigenous peoples day. Instead of still taking away from them these many years later, let’s give something. Just saying.

  • 101
    Abbi
    10/19/2021

    Columbus was a slave trade genocidal rapist and I’m sick of kids learning that he was a great explorer. Let’s have indigenous peoples day and while I’m on it, more Native folks in the cabinet and running for office.

  • 34
    Mirtha
    10/19/2021

    You cannot erase history! I support Columbus Day!

  • 34
    Hollis
    10/16/2021

    this is ridiculous. Christopher Columbus what is a brave and courageous man whoWas part of his time. He was also probably afraid. Give me a break.

  • 741
    John
    10/16/2021

    As the fact of the matter is that Columbus really didn’t discover America that happen long before he was born first by the native American Indians then by the Vikings. Columbus Day has really turned into an excuse to have a sale of the store so it’s kind of pointless.

  • 192
    Kathleen
    10/16/2021

    No, what the US should stop celebrating is Martin Lucifer King day. He was a communist agitator, lover of White prostitutes, and a disgrace. Still waiting for the FBI to release its files on this moron. https://thoughtfulreading.com/politics/the-great-fraud-of-martin-luther-king-the-lying-plagiarizing-fraudulent-degenerate-anti-american-radical-communist-con-artist/ Also Juneneeth is a total farce. Instead of celebrating their supposed freedom from slavery, they should be celebrating the achievement of creating ghettos and slums everywhere they infest themselves, bringing violent crime to every once safe community when they move in. As an Italian, I am outraged that they want to take away Columbus Day and removing his statues throughout the country. Anybody that is offended by Columbus, don't let the door hit you in the ass, leave the country.

  • 23
    Zachery
    10/16/2021

    Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day… celebrate whatever you want to celebrate.

  • 28
    Timothy
    10/16/2021

    Columbus is dumb. I was a catholic for a while when I was younger. Catholic pride is fine. Columbus is not fine. We are nuanced, adult individuals. We can hold complicated thoughts in our minds. We can celebrate indigenous peoples. In Alaska, we celebrate Alaska day instead.

  • 26.0k
    Frank_001
    10/15/2021

    Being an Imperialist Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry. "MIT grapples with early leader's stance on Native Americans" "CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — As the third president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Francis Amasa Walker helped usher the school into national prominence in the late 1800s. "But another part of his legacy has received renewed attention amid the nation’s reckoning with racial justice: his role in shaping the nation’s hardline policies toward Native Americans as a former head of the U.S. office of Indian Affairs and author of “The Indian Question,” a treatise that justified forcibly removing tribes from their lands and confining them to remote reservations." https://apnews.com/article/4b860ff3f06d7f5902d24bb8a959be8e

  • 42
    michael
    10/15/2021

    Assinine political correctness run amok.

  • 472
    Alice
    10/15/2021

    What an utterly stupid suggestion!

  • 66
    Da3m0n
    10/15/2021

    because IDC, I'm Hispanic that means mixed European and Native American ancestry, and IDC it means nothing to me you don't hear me complaining about Hernan Cortes and the attack on the Aztec empire because IDC this was hundreds of years ago we got bigger issues than making amends to people who died long ago and for those who still hold onto that well get over it life moves on to the victor go the spoils move on! people are starving in the USA and riddled with debt we got bigger issues

  • 98
    Daniel
    10/14/2021

    We should do away with celebrating Indians already being here.

  • 91
    David
    10/14/2021

    No

  • 210
    Rev8Jonathan8Peebles
    10/14/2021

    You know Columbus didnt actually discover America; it had already been discovered by the Vikings he just stole land from other people who have very little left now. Not too mention the slavery and sickness we brought to them. I actually do not honor Columbus Day

  • 28
    Christine
    10/14/2021

    It should no longer be celebrated as Columbus Day, but kept as national Indigenous Day. It is only fair, and those who count on having this holiday will still have it and learn something.

  • 51
    Donna
    10/14/2021

    Why? Indians were no different then other nations. War tribes and peaceful tribes. Will we change today in history