Columbus Day vs Indigenous People’s Day

McKenzie LaBier, Staff Writer

Columbus Day is a holiday to celebrate Christopher Columbus’s arrival to the “New World” in 1492. People fail to remember that the ‘New World’ was not in need of finding. There were people already living here: Native Americans. They had a sense of culture and community. They had traditions, families, friends, and religion, and soon their lives changed.

Columbus Day was made a national holiday in 1943, and in 1971, Franklin D. Roosevelt turned Christopher Columbus into a man that would be celebrated federally on the second Monday of every October. The man we celebrated for so many years is also the man responsible for the genocide of Native Americans. Columbus led the group that brought diseases to the “New World,” killed Natives, raped women, ripped away their religion, and enslaved Native Americans. This is still a man many celebrate today, but we don’t have to.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a day that takes the place of Columbus Day. Instead of honoring a man who did nothing worth observing, we can celebrate and honor Native Americans. This is a day when we can learn new things about the history and culture of Native Americans. A day where we can remember that many of our ancestors were not the first ones to walk on this land. A day to recognize the strength and resilience of Native Americans. By celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day, we will celebrate the first people to inhabit this land instead of reinforcing the idea that Columbus is a great man who did extraordinary things.