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douglas9

(4,358 posts)
Mon Oct 14, 2019, 08:31 AM Oct 2019

Columbus Day Is Dying. Indigenous Peoples Day Is the Future.

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”—and in 2019, a growing number of US cities and states are recognizing that the cutesy rhyme we learned in school, and the federal holiday named in the explorer’s honor, belies a dark history.

Indigenous people have long resented the holiday, as Columbus’s arrival was the first step in their unfathomable genocide. He and his men enslaved and massacred the indigenous Taíno people, who numbered in the millions upon Columbus’s arrival, and saw their population reduced by as much as 85 percent within a few decades. The brutal colonization of two continents ensued.

The federal holiday, which is always the second Monday in October, plus a bevy of statues and municipal names, continue to glorify Columbus. Yet in recent years, a re-evaluation of history has prompted many state and local governments to distance themselves from his legacy.

South Dakota was the first to axe Columbus Day, replacing it with “Native American Day” in 1989. Two California cities, Berkeley and Santa Cruz, soon followed suit, renaming the second Monday in October as “Indigenous Peoples Day.”



https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/columbus-day-is-dying-indigenous-peoples-day-is-the-future/

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Columbus Day Is Dying. Indigenous Peoples Day Is the Future. (Original Post) douglas9 Oct 2019 OP
The book, "Rethinking Columbus," is a good place to start the conversation. catbyte Oct 2019 #1
It's a long time coming... Ferrets are Cool Oct 2019 #2
Cool Miguelito Loveless Oct 2019 #3
Glad to finally hear this. Duppers Oct 2019 #4

catbyte

(34,165 posts)
1. The book, "Rethinking Columbus," is a good place to start the conversation.
Mon Oct 14, 2019, 08:49 AM
Oct 2019

As an Ojibwe, I feel that it's a slap in the face. But I know that a lot of folks beg to differ.

https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/rethinking-columbus/



Ferrets are Cool

(21,057 posts)
2. It's a long time coming...
Mon Oct 14, 2019, 09:12 AM
Oct 2019

I never celebrate rapist's, pedophiles and child traffickers. But many seem to be very willing to do so on "Columbus" day.

Miguelito Loveless

(4,438 posts)
3. Cool
Mon Oct 14, 2019, 09:12 AM
Oct 2019

But in the spirit of “Talk Like a Pirate Day”, I was hoping for “Columbo Day”. I had a wrinkled rain coat, cigar and endless questions that started, “You know, my wife said to me just this morning...”

Duppers

(28,094 posts)
4. Glad to finally hear this.
Mon Oct 14, 2019, 02:14 PM
Oct 2019

I've hated "Columbus Day" for a long long time.

Got into a heated discussion here a few yrs ago re this matter.

on inaccurate "traditions"!

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