Indigenous Peoples’ Day is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October and has its start in the Bay Area. The first was held in 1992 in Berkeley, CA in response to the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. Soon, other Bay Area cities followed with some opting to celebrate the new holiday in lieu of Columbus Day. Today, cities and regions across the United States participate.
Why should we consider replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day?
Replacing Columbus Day with a new holiday is not a new idea. The first mention of the need to honor Indigenous American peoples’ histories and cultures instead of an Italian colonizer who mistook what is known today as the Bahamas for India took place at an international conference sponsored by the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland in 1977. Today, we recognize that Columbus did not “discover” the Americas but claimed ownership over lands that were already inhabited. For example, in the Bahamas, the island he first landed upon was known by the Lucayan people (part of the broader Taíno culture) as Guanahani.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is more than a celebration. It is a reclaiming of history and, for some, a day of protest. Considering the long history of brutality faced by Indigenous American peoples coupled with their resilience, strength, and fight to uphold traditions, identities, and ways of life the holiday is long overdue.
Where the holiday stands today
While President Biden issued an official proclamation to commemorate the holiday in 2021 and each year since the observation of the holiday has yet to become federal law. A bill calling for the replacement of “Columbus Day” with “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” was introduced to Congress on 28 September 2023 and is still pending.
If you aren’t as familiar with Indigenous American peoples’ histories, cultures, and their perspectives on Columbus and the violent colonization of the Americas as you’d like to be, you might start with educating yourself through reading and viewing.
Here’s a list to get you started
Videos
- “Indigenous People Answer Commonly Googled Questions about Native Americans” by BuzzFeedVideo
- “6 Misconceptions about Native American People” by Teen Vogue
Poetry
- “Postcards to Columbus” by Sherman Alexie
- Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo
Books
The Native American Experience
Oral history
Sources
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/11/1044823626/indigenous-peoples-day-native-americans-columbus
https://apnews.com/article/indigenous-peoples-day-history-59ac2549eba4135479e5152362785475
https://www.cnn.com/us/indigenous-peoples-day-native-americans-cec/index.html
https://ipdpowwow.org/Archives_1.html
https://youtu.be/yW8kIAR4V8U?si=Id7fON2TEpT93g9m
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/columbus-makes-landfall-caribbean/
Add a comment to: Indigenous Peoples’ Day is 14 October 2024