First celebrated nationally in 1937, Columbus Day pays homage to Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas. It is, needless to say, viewed very differently by different groups of Americans. Some people forget it’s a holiday at all. Some Italian Americans see it as a point of cultural pride. Other people — especially Native Americans — point out that Columbus personally oversaw the murder and enslavement of thousands and see the holiday as an intrinsically cruel celebration of the beginning of a massive genocide and generations of oppression.
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[Let’s] [r]eplace Columbus Day with Exploration Day.
The logic is quite neat. Columbus Day is about one guy and the actually untrue claim that he was the first person to discover America. Inherently, that’s pretty Euro-centric, which is a big part of why it sits awkwardly in a pluralistic country. But exploration is inclusive.
Sign the Change.org and the Whitehouse.gov petitions, if you agree.