Indigenous Communities Fight to Ban Columbus Day
Indigenous People’s Day at Randall’s Island (Photo Credit: Jeremy Dennis)
By July Torres
Lehman students stand with efforts to remove Columbus Day as a federal holiday.
“What Europeans did to Native Americans shouldn’t be celebrated,” said Jocelyn Rodriguez, a Lehman freshman majoring in social work. “I mean, there were people there already, so he didn’t discover anything. He was simply lost.”
“A bunch of people were enslaved and killed, and we celebrate a day in honor of him discovering the land. Celebrating a holiday that has a murderer isn’t right,” said Gianna Gonzalez, a junior film and television studies major. “While changing it isn’t going to bring them back, it is a way to remember what happened in the past.”
The state of New York still recognizes Columbus Day despite years of critique and recent protests at Randall’s Island where New Yorkers gathered this October to celebrate indigenous people from around the world. Attendees celebrated by appreciating Native American culture, such as traditional wear, music and food. Mayor Bill De Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo, however, attended Manhattan's Columbus Day Parade instead.
The founder of the Indigenous Peoples Day event in New York City, Cliff Matias, told the New York Times he is not surprised politicians did not show up. He expressed his excitement seeing indigenous people and allies gathered.
“This isn’t a day about protesting Columbus, it’s about celebrating indigenous people,” Matias said. “But look around. There’s an eclectic mix of people here. Indigenous. Black people. Anglos. Allies from around the world. That makes it special.”
States can choose not to observe federal holidays, and CBS News reported that as of 2019, 13 states recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day over Columbus Day, including Maine, Michigan, Alaska and South Dakota, the first state to recognize it in 1990.
As the movement for indigenous recognition continues to grow, Indian Country Today, a digital indigenous news site, compiled a list of several places in America that were holding events in support of native peoples. New York, Delaware, and Washington D.C., all held events
On Oct. 14, Lakota/Mohawk journalist Corinne Oestreich-Rice took over the Twitter account of AJ+. “Although Native Americans have discussed Indigenous Peoples’ Day since the 1970s, the movement gained popularity when Bay Area Natives pushed back on a planned reenactment of Columbus’ arrival,” she wrote. “After this, other cities in America followed suit to highlight that Native Americans are still here, and refuse to celebrate a murderer.”
Oestreich-Rice said, “As Indigenous people of an occupied land, they expect and demand the recognition and respect of those who occupy it. The Natives are also standing up and demanding an end to the trend of Native mascots.”
“The Natives were here first. They should be recognized.”
Native American groups believe that Columbus’ arrival ushered in genocide and that Columbus Day celebrates 500 years of colonial oppression, according to ThoughtCo. However, contrary to popular belief, in places like the Caribbean, indigenous people did not become extinct.
The leader of the Taíno Indigenous, Jorge Baracutei Estevez, told National Geographic that the population did decrease. “The Taíno were declared extinct shortly after 1565 when a census shows just 200 Indians living on Hispaniola, today the Dominican Republic and Haiti.” He claims that Taíno still exist because he believes that many of them ran into the mountains.
Deb Haaland, one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, told NBC News, “Indigenous Peoples' Day is about acknowledging indigenous peoples' complex history in this country and celebrating the culture, heritage and strength of native communities everywhere.” As for Columbus Day, Haaland believes that, “Celebrating Columbus Day continues a dangerous narrative that erases Native American voices and minimizes the federal government’s attempt at genocide and forced assimilation.”
John Perez, a junior majoring in English, told the Meridian, “The Natives were here first. They should be recognized. Why not? This land belongs to them. We should celebrate their history and their culture.”
