Columbus Day No More

As the student body returns to classes after a three-day weekend, we must not allow Columbus Day to pass by without raising questions about its status as a University holiday. This debate is not a new one, and student groups on campus have been protesting naming a holiday after Christopher Columbus for decades. Every year that the University continues to observe the day as Columbus Day, the issue is revived.

Enough time has now passed. It is imperative that the University officially rename the holiday Indigenous Peoples Day.

Columbus’ arrival in the Americas led to the enslavement, exploitation, and mass genocide of indigenous people who’d been living on the continent for centuries. His arrival sparked an imperialist project by which hundreds of Europeans came to the Americas, pillaged the land's natural resources, and in the process wiped out entire populations. The complex, sophisticated civilizations of indigenous people were replaced by the imposed religious and political systems of the Europeans, leading to the subjugation of entire cultures. To this end, Christopher Columbus was not a hero and therefore does not deserve a holiday that glorifies him.

In light of this erasure of indigenous people and culture, the University ought to recognize this holiday as Indigenous Peoples Day. Not only does a name change force us to reconsider the impact of European colonizers have had on this country, it also allows indigenous people the opportunity to reclaim the day as their own. Native Americans have been central to the foundation of the United States, but their contribution has been forgotten. Twenty-six states derive their name from Native words, and this is just the surface of the deep wealth of contributions. Instead of acknowledging these additions, the American imagination holds onto a revised and idealized history that wrongfully holds European enslavers on a pedestal. There is no need to celebrate European colonialism again.

Campus conversations, including previous Crimson Editorial Board stances, have failed to center the conversation surrounding Columbus Day on indigenous people. By renaming the holiday Indigenous Peoples Day, it will focus on a people who have been seeking visibility throughout this nation’s history. With the day off of school, different individuals and groups on campus can focus on celebrating the indigenous cultures that are underrepresented in our curricula, traditions, and national narrative. It should be a day to validate Native American individuals, and to support them in their contemporary fight to preserve their culture.