With Columbus Day fast approaching, many people are taking this opportunity to reexamine the holiday. Columbus Day has been acknowledged as a federal holiday since 1937. It is occasionally celebrated with parades, but is most often recognized as a day off in schools and in some workplaces.
How is Columbus Day adapting
Over the last few years more states and cities have chosen to rename this holiday Indigenous People’s Day. This change seems to be a gesture to refocus the nation‘s attention on Native American and Indigenous communities in the country. Centering Indigenous people on this day gives them a platform to discuss their history within the United States from their own perspective which many citizens would not seek out otherwise.
Unsurprisingly, there are varying opinions on this topic. Many of those that are supportive of this change feel that Columbus Day’s recognition of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America is an inaccurate portrayal of events and not worth celebrating. Those that are opposed to this change seemed concerned with losing out on traditions and festivities attached to the holiday.
If we know these traditions have questionable origins, why is the nation clinging to them so fiercely? I think the reality is, Americans are in denial. They don’t want to let go of their festivities because doing that would force them to acknowledge the true shameful history behind the holiday. The happy festivities are a mask that America hides behind and it’s not right. Indigenous people deserve to be heard, and they deserve to not have their transgressors championed or glorified.
So, should more of the country get on board with this rebranding? Absolutely. The thing is, it can’t only be a rebranding. It’s important to be vocal about that full history behind this holiday, and that includes (for future generations) the fact that the name had to be changed at all. It should not be swept under the rug that at one point in time the United States believed this was a person worth celebrating. Why was there ever a need to celebrate the facilitators of atrocities?
Establishing Indigenous People’s Day will amplify the voices of Native Americans that often go unheard and give them an opportunity to share their culture. People can still have their festivities and their day off, but this time they’d be uplifting an underrepresented population’s culture.
