Community Conversation - Indigenous Peoples’ Day
The following is part of DougCo Collective’s “Community Conversations” and was written by a Douglas County community member (parent, student, teacher/staff or community member). The intent of “Community Conversations” is to give members of the Douglas County community an opportunity to contribute to the larger DCSD conversation with their lived experiences and perspectives.
Estimated Read Time: 3 minutes
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a holiday that celebrates the history and contributions of Native Americans. Thankfully, this day replaces Columbus Day in some states, but Columbus Day still exists on many calendars throughout the U.S. An important note to those who still sing about 1492, a place cannot be discovered if people already exist there.
Columbus Day is an outdated and offensive holiday that remembers his landing in the Americas. For many people, this day honors Columbus’ “achievements” and celebrates Italian-American heritage. Achievement is an inaccurate word for what he did (Fast Facts About Columbus and Indigenous Peoples Day - Auburn Examiner), and as someone who has Italian heritage, I am appalled and ashamed of this man and this day. For Columbus, an enslaver, to be honored and given an actual day-off holiday is supporting the violent history of colonization. His name should be in history books, remembered as a violent and deplorable human, not as a hero.
By highlighting Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we work toward ending the erasure of Native American history. “For the Native Americans, Columbus Day was always hurtful as it glorified the violent past constituting 500 years of colonial torture and oppression by European explorers like Columbus and those who settled in America. Indigenous Peoples’ Day draws attention to the pain, trauma, and broken promises that were erased by the celebration of Columbus Day. Before his arrival, the indigenous folk were successful self-sufficient communities that sustained life for thousands of years.” (INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY - October 10, 2022 - National Today)
It's simple. Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the second Monday in October, celebrates the cultures and histories of the original inhabitants of North America. If we take the day off and still consider it Columbus Day, like I did for so many years, then we are complicit with the genocide of the Native Americans. Once you know something, you can’t unknow it. You have a choice. You can take action and continue to educate yourself or you can remain in ignorance and be complicit.
“Columbus Day affirms the narrative of a nation created by Europeans for Europeans. Indigenous Peoples’ Day helps us reflect on native histories and native people in the discussion of what it means to be American,” Malinda Maynor Lowery (What is the history behind Indigenous Peoples’ Day? | UNC-Chapel Hill) Reflection, recognition and education.
How will you show up on the second Monday in October?