![]() Speed says she recognizes the importance of celebrating the history and contributions of Italian Americans, but there has to be another way to honor them. He went on to write, "We believe Christopher Columbus represents the values of discovery and risk that are at the heart of the American dream, and that it is our job as the community most closely associated with his legacy to be at the forefront of a sensitive and engaging path forward, toward a solution that considers all sides." Can't the monuments and holidays born of our past be reimagined to represent new values for our future?" In the wake of the cultural conflict that has ripped us apart over these months, I wonder if we as a country can't find better ways to utilize our history to eradicate racism instead of inciting it. Viola, wrote in a New York Times editorial, "The 'tearing down of history' does not change that history. In 2017, after someone vandalized the Christopher Columbus statue in New York City's Central Park, the then-president and chief operating officer of the National Italian American Foundation, John M. Above, the Christopher Columbus statue at Manhattan's Columbus Circle in New York. It conjures the violent history of 500 years of colonial oppression at the hands of European explorers and those who settled here - a history whose ramifications and wounds still run deep today.įor many Italian Americans, Columbus Day is about celebrating Italian heritage and the contributions of Italian Americans to the United States. Many college campuses have dumped Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples' Day as have more than 100 cities, towns and counties across the country.įor Native Americans, Columbus Day has long been hurtful. There's no comprehensive list of places that have switched, but at least 10 states now celebrate some version of Indigenous Peoples' Day on the second Monday in October, like Hawaii's Discoverers' Day or South Dakota's Native Americans' Day. And we're just so excited to have this finally." So to bring this, I think it's long overdue. "You know, because we have many friends of all different races in this area and Houma is named after the Houma people, the Houma Choctaw. She wants it to be "a celebration and to bring acknowledgment to the Native population," Champagne said. National Columbus, Ohio, Is Not Observing Columbus Day This YearĪnd so in Houma, La., people from across the state will gather to honor and celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day for the first time. By bringing Indigenous Peoples' Day, we're bringing awareness that we're not going to allow someone like that to be glorified into a hero, because of the hurt that he caused to Indigenous people of America." "It's about celebrating people instead of thinking about somebody who actually caused genocide on a population or tried to cause the genocide of an entire population. He did, along with several other states this year. The tribal citizen of the United Houma Nation petitioned the governor, John Bel Edwards, to change the day. Several other places across the United States have also made the switch in a growing movement to end the celebration of the Italian explorer in favor of honoring Indigenous communities and their resiliency in the face of violence by European explorers like Christopher Columbus.īaley Champagne is responsible for that change in her home state of Louisiana. Council voted to replace it with Indigenous Peoples' Day in a temporary move that it hopes to make permanent. On Monday in the nation's capital, there is no Columbus Day. Seattle began observing Indigenous Peoples' Day two years earlier to promote the well-being and growth of Seattle's Indigenous community. People look on at a celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day in 2016 at Seattle's City Hall.
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