Should Americans forget the holiday or continue to celebrate it?

Did you celebrate “Indigenous People’s Day” this past week? Perhaps you celebrated Columbus Day instead, which has been a national holiday since 1968.

If you celebrated “Indigenous People’s Day,” then you are a good person who supports the cause of Native American rights and rights of all people all over the world. If you celebrated the latter holiday, you must support the slaughtering of millions of Native Americans.

That is how I see the situation portrayed in most media outlets, especially social media. Christopher Columbus, once viewed as the almighty father of North America, is now being seen as one of the greatest villains the world has ever seen. He single-handedly brought death and destruction to an entire population in a short amount of time, and we as Americans gather around the dinner table once a year in October to celebrate his horrific crimes against humanity.

I can feel my white guilt rising like Bernie Sanders in the polls.

Now America is faced with the dramatic decision of getting rid of Columbus Day. Indigenous People’s Day seems to be the most popular alternative, which would celebrate and honor the Native American culture in North America. Many believe it should be celebrated because Native Americans suffered so much at the hand of Columbus, so we as Americans should honor their rich culture and history.

So what shall we do? Do we continue to celebrate the most evil man in history, or do we start celebrating the original owners of American land?

I can assure you I will not be celebrating either.

Personally, I do not give a rodent’s posterior what Americans choose to celebrate concerning Columbus Day. This is because I do not celebrate Columbus Day. To me, Columbus Day is just another day when I can sleep in and not have to go to class. Columbus Day is like the WNBA of holidays to me: I acknowledge its existence and I acknowledge that there is some level of importance to it, but I personally just do not care what goes on concerning it.

Maybe other Americans do celebrate Columbus Day. Maybe many families have traditions that are done only on Columbus Day. However, I do not think I would be wrong in assuming that many Americans are simply indifferent to the celebration of the holiday.

I can find a bone to pick with the name itself, though. I do believe many American students are taught only the good things done by Columbus. Let us not forget the man did bring about civilization as we know it, whether we like it or not. We would not be in America without that fateful 1492 voyage. However, American students are often shown only the positives that came from Columbus landing in North America. The man was actually pretty evil, when it comes down to it.

I do believe Columbus Day should be done away with. Indifference aside, words and national holidays do matter and I can see how many people believe that having a national holiday named after Columbus can come across as insensitive and wrong. I would not have any problem if the name was changed to Indigenous People’s Day. I would have no problem with the holiday being switched to Leif Erikson Day, for that matter.

I simply hope people realize that changing the name will do nothing to right the wrongs done to Native Americans. Nothing can make up for the slaughter of millions of people. It sounds noble to want to change the name of the holiday and it is, to some extent, but it really will not do much for the millions of Native Americans who lost their lives, nor for the millions that still live in poverty today.

Columbus happened and that is something that cannot be changed. He should not be celebrated and should not have a national holiday named after him, but changing the name of the holiday will not do much of anything to change his impact or influence on events after 1492.

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