The Argument Against Columbus Day
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By Nadra Kareem Nittle
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A 2008 Columbus Day Parade in Manhattan.
Jorbasa/Flickr.com
Only two federal holidays bear the names of specific men--Martin Luther
King Jr. Day and Columbus Day. While the former passes each year with
relatively little controversy, opposition to Columbus Day has intensified in
recent decades. Native American groups argue that the Italian explorer’s
arrival in the New World ushered in genocide against indigenous peoples
as well as the transatlantic slave trade. Thus Columbus Day, much like
Thanksgiving, highlights Western imperialism and the conquest of people
of color. The circumstances surrounding Christopher Columbus’ foray
into the Americas have led to an end to Columbus Day observances in
some areas of the U.S. In such regions, the contributions Native
Americans have made to the county are recognized instead. But these
places are exceptions and not the rule. Columbus Day remains a mainstay
in nearly all U.S. cities and states. To change this, activists opposed to
these celebrations have launched a multi-pronged argument to demonstrate
why Columbus Day should be eradicated.
Origins of Columbus Day
Christopher Columbus may have first left his mark on the Americas in the
15th century, but the United States didn’t establish a federal holiday in his
honor until 1937. Commissioned by Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella to explore Asia, Columbus instead sailed to the New World in
1492. He first disembarked in the Bahamas, later making his way to Cuba
and the island of Hispanola, now home of Haiti and the Dominican
Republic. Believing that he had located China and Japan, Columbus
founded the first Spanish colony in the Americas with the help of nearly
40 crewmembers. The following spring, he traveled back to Spain where
he presented Ferdinand and Isabella with spices, minerals and indigenous
peoples he’d captured.
It would take three trips back to the New World for Columbus to
determine that he hadn’t located Asia but a continent altogether unfamiliar
to the Spanish. By the time he died in 1506, Columbus had crisscrossed
the Atlantic numerous times. Clearly Columbus left his mark on the New
World, but should he be given credit for discovering it?
Columbus Didn’t Discover America
Generations of Americans grew up learning that Christopher Columbus
discovered the New World. But Columbus wasn’t the first European to
land in the Americas. Back in the 10th century, the Vikings explored
Newfoundland, Canada. DNA evidence has also found that
Polynesians settled in South America before Columbus traveled to the
New World. There’s also the fact that when Columbus arrived in the
Americas in 1492, more than 100 million people inhabited the New
World. G. Rebecca Dobbs wrote in her essay “Why We Should Abolish
Columbus Day” that to suggest that Columbus discovered America is to
suggest that those who inhabited the Americas are nonentities. Dobbs
argues:
“How can anyone discover a place which tens of millions already know
about? To assert that this can be done is to say that those inhabitants are
not human. And in fact this is exactly the attitude many
Europeans…displayed toward indigenous Americans. We know, of
course, that this is not true, but to perpetuate the idea of a Columbian
discovery is to continue to assign a non-human status to those 145 million
people and their descendants.”
Not only didn’t Columbus discover the Americas, he also didn’t
popularize the idea that the earth was round. The educated Europeans of
Columbus’ day widely acknowledged that the earth was not flat, contrary
to reports. Given that Columbus neither discovered the New World nor
dispelled the flat earth myth, opponents to the Columbus observance
question why the federal government has set aside a day in the explorer’s
honor.
Columbus’ Impact on Indigenous Peoples
The main reason Columbus Day draws opposition is because of how the
explorer’s arrival to the New World affected indigenous peoples.
European settlers not only introduced new diseases to the Americas that
wiped out scores of Native peoples but also warfare, colonization, slavery
and torture. In light of this, the American Indian Movement (AIM) has
called on the federal government to stop observances of Columbus Day.
AIM likened Columbus Day celebrations in the U.S. to the German people
establishing a holiday to celebrate Adolf Hitler with parades and festivals
in Jewish communities. According to AIM:
“Columbus was the beginning of the American holocaust, ethnic cleansing
characterized by murder, torture, raping, pillaging, robbery, slavery,
kidnapping, and forced removals of Indian people from their homelands.
…We say that to celebrate the legacy of this murderer is an affront to all
Indian peoples, and others who truly understand this history.”
Alternatives to Columbus Day
Since 1990 the state of South Dakota has celebrated Native American Day
in lieu of Columbus Day to honor its residents of indigenous heritage.
South Dakota has a Native population of 8.8 percent, according to 2010
census figures. In Hawaii, Discoverers’ Day is celebrated rather than
Columbus Day. Discoverers’ Day pays homage to the Polynesian
explorers who sailed to the New World. The city of Berkeley, Calif, also
doesn’t celebrate Columbus Day, instead recognizing Indigenous Peoples
Day since 1992.