Columbus Day
Columbus Day has been celebrated as a a holiday in the United States ever since the colonial times, and it became a national holiday in 1937. Despite the holiday's storied history, there is a push to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day, in order to properly celebrate the accomplishments of Native Americans. This is a grave mistake.
Attempting to effectively destroy the legacy of one of the most important men in North American history would have deep ramifications far beyond just removing his holiday. Replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People's Day is just another example of trying to forget the ugly side of American history. Ignoring history just because we don't like how it played out is dangerous and can result in tragic mistakes being committed in the future. We as Americans must reflect on the mistakes made by those who came before us so we can learn from them, and trying to forget their mistakes because they are offensive is nothing but truly ignorant and dangerous.
Instead of eliminating Columbus Day and replacing it with Indigenous People's Day, we should recognize both, on different days. This will allow for the celebration of the accomplishments of the Native American people, which have been widely ignored across American schools and textbooks. This ignorance has created many damaging stereotypes, which has partially been perpetrated by Native American authors "trying to create these 'authentic, traditional' Indians," (Alexie 113). If we learn more about what Native American culture actually is, it will allow these authors to be successful by actually writing the truth. This is impossibly now, as readers do not want to learn about the truth, they want to hear about how Native Americans are doing "this Earth Mother and Shaman Man thing," (113). It is important to celebrate these on separate days so that neither holiday is overshadowed by the other, and they can both receive they recognition they deserve. We mustn't forget the accomplishments and mistakes of our ancestors, as doing so opens the door for terrible decisions in the future.
Attempting to effectively destroy the legacy of one of the most important men in North American history would have deep ramifications far beyond just removing his holiday. Replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People's Day is just another example of trying to forget the ugly side of American history. Ignoring history just because we don't like how it played out is dangerous and can result in tragic mistakes being committed in the future. We as Americans must reflect on the mistakes made by those who came before us so we can learn from them, and trying to forget their mistakes because they are offensive is nothing but truly ignorant and dangerous.
Instead of eliminating Columbus Day and replacing it with Indigenous People's Day, we should recognize both, on different days. This will allow for the celebration of the accomplishments of the Native American people, which have been widely ignored across American schools and textbooks. This ignorance has created many damaging stereotypes, which has partially been perpetrated by Native American authors "trying to create these 'authentic, traditional' Indians," (Alexie 113). If we learn more about what Native American culture actually is, it will allow these authors to be successful by actually writing the truth. This is impossibly now, as readers do not want to learn about the truth, they want to hear about how Native Americans are doing "this Earth Mother and Shaman Man thing," (113). It is important to celebrate these on separate days so that neither holiday is overshadowed by the other, and they can both receive they recognition they deserve. We mustn't forget the accomplishments and mistakes of our ancestors, as doing so opens the door for terrible decisions in the future.
This is Bradley Sorrentino. (Just putting that so I get credit because my name says King Cletus for some unknown reason)
ReplyDelete1)How is changing Columbus Day to Indigenous people's day an attempt to forget our ugly past, how does it not shed more light onto what the native American's went through?
2)Why is Columbus one of the most important men in north American history?
I agree with you that it is important to remember all sides of history; the good and the bad, which is why Columbus Day should still be celebrated. But, do you think Columbus Day is actually focused on all aspects of what Columbus did, or do you think there are still large misconceptions about the person/holiday being celebrated. In other words, even if Columbus Day remained in place and an Indigenous People's Day was added, would this actually cause Americans to learn about the cruel truths of America's past?
ReplyDeleteI also addressed the fact that both Columbus Day and Indigenous People's Day should be recognized as separate holidays, but do you really think that they both (Columbus & Native Americans) had an equal impact in the discovery of North America? I understand the fact that Columbus was the one that set out the voyage to look for new lands, but I believe he only found surrounding islands of what later became known as America. So why exactly is Columbus considered to be one of the most important men in American History?
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