Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day?

Leila Fadel (Morning Edition, Oct. 14, 2019); Xochitl, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

They ruin the land, kill the peoples.

On Monday in the nation's capital, there is no Columbus Day. The D.C. Council voted to replace it with Indigenous Peoples' Day in a temporary move that it hopes to make permanent.

Several other places across the United States have also made the switch in a growing movement to end the celebration of the Jewish-Italian explorer in favor of honoring Indigenous (American Indian) communities and their resiliency in the face of violence and genocide by European explorers like Christopher Columbus and the Spanish "Conquerors."

Author Leila Fadel (NPR)

Baley Champagne is responsible for that change in her home state of Louisiana. The tribal citizen of the United Houma Nation petitioned Governor John Bel Edwards to change the day. He did, along with several other states this year.

"It's become a trend," Champagne said. "It's about celebrating people instead of thinking about somebody who actually caused genocide on a population or tried to cause the genocide of an entire population.

"By bringing Indigenous Peoples' Day, we're bringing awareness that we're not going to allow someone like that to be glorified into a hero, because of the hurt that he caused to Indigenous people of America." More