Columbus Day in America has been a nationally recognized holiday since 1971, typically getting kids out of school for the second Monday in October. Some of my teammates yesterday even had their college classes cancelled for this holiday. The day is designed to be a reflection on the impact that Christopher Columbus had on the United States by “discovering” the land in 1492 and how we got here today. But I ask myself, why are we celebrating a man who did not actually discover America but instead brought upon the Native Americans inhabiting the land slavery, disease, violence, and wreaked havoc on their lives? Many have asked this question for decades and beginning in 1991, Indigenous People’s Day was adopted, a holiday that instead celebrates the history and contributions of Native Americans. This counter holiday however I believe needs to be a federal holiday instead of just one recognized by some states and municipalities. Children in schools need to be taught more about the contributions that Native Americans have brought to our society, their history, current plight, and what we can do moving forward to preserve their land and culture.

Yesterday, the organization I cofounded back home, BH Unfiltered, released a statement regarding Indigenous People’s Day that I think is important that more people understand. “Celebrating indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day is not rewriting history. It’s about recognizing that history is not a singular, Eurocentric, colonial narrative. It’s about recognizing that Christopher Columbus did not “discover” a new land, but instead invaded an already inhabited place, and assumed that the people living there were inferior to him…He nearly wiped out an entire population who he deemed less than himself. We can remember who he was and what he did, but the question lies in whether we should be celebrating him…It feels somewhat inhumane and callous to celebrate a person whose actions contributed to mass genocide, forced displacement and assimilation…We must support indigenous people in reclaiming this day for healing and remembering the true first Americans lost to the violence and disease spread by colonialism.”

As a minority in the United States, I have a perspective from which I appreciate grade school curriculum including topics and conversations on different cultures and races from numerous perspectives. Over the summer, I worked with the supervisor of my district’s health and history departments as well as administrators from the high school to better equip students for the real world by incorporating bias training  in health classes, increasing conversations about black contributions to America, and black people’s current plight with regards to mass incarceration, the War on Drugs, and police brutality.  Unfiltered every day from September 15 to October 15 posted about an influential Hispanic person in history for National Hispanic Heritage Month, which is federally recognized. Native American Heritage Month however does not receive the same attention. It is coming up next month, November, and I think it is just as important that the indigenous culture that lived here first is understood, protected, and celebrated. Getting more people to recognize Indigenous People’s Day is a start, however more work is to be done to honor and protect Native American lives.