Opinion | Columbus: Hero or Villain?

By: Edris Guayllazaca

In the United States, Columbus Day is a federal holiday with many seeing it as just a day off from work or school. Most of us don’t really put much thought into Columbus Day as much as others do. Columbus Day was declared a federal holiday 86 years ago, but there are still several states that don’t consider Columbus Day a holiday. Some of these states include Minnesota, Oregon, and Vermont just to name a few. Now we have to ask ourselves: why is this happening? 

According to Erie News Now, many historians have agreed that Christopher Columbus was not the first person to arrive in the Americas. Prior to his arrival, Indigenous people habited the continents. Historians understand that Columbus forced many natives into slavery and murdered the ones who didn’t agree with being slaves. Movements to spread awareness on Columbus and his mistreatment of the Indigenous people that lived in the Americas before Columbus arrived have sprung up in recent years. Many advocate that Columbus shouldn’t be the one being celebrated. States have begun to celebrate and recognize another holiday instead: Indigenous People’s Day, to acknowledge the Indigenous people that lived in the Americas before Columbus’ arrival.

While most are between Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day, there are other states that have instead named the event “Discovery’s Day,” which is celebrated in Hawaii, and “Native American Day” celebrated in South Dakota. Based on an article from Pew Research Center, only 32% of the states consider Columbus Day as a national holiday while the other 68% have either changed the name, changed the meaning of the holiday, or simply don’t recognize Columbus Day as a holiday. These concerns leave the question up to you: should Columbus Day continue being a national holiday or should it be replaced with something more appropriate and historically accurate?