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California

The city of Berkeley celebrates Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day.

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Colorado

The Columbus Day parade in Denver has been protested by American Indian groups and their supporters for nearly two decades. Denver has the longest running parade in the United States. ^[3]

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Hawaii

Further information: Discoverer's Day

Discoverer's Day is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Hawaii; it honors Captain James Cook as the first European to document Hawaiian society.

Hawaii does not officially honor Columbus day and instead celebrates Discoverer's Day on the same day, i.e., on the second Monday of each October. While many in Hawaii still celebrate the life of Columbus on Columbus Day, the alternative holiday also honors James Cook, the British navigator that became the first person to record the coordinates of the Hawaiian Islands and share with the world the existence of the ancient Hawaiian people and society. Some people interpret the holiday as a celebration of all discoveries relative to the ancient and modern societies of Hawaii.

Many Native Hawaiians decry the celebration of both Columbus and Cook, known to have committed acts of violent subjugation of native people. Discoverer's Day is a day of protest for some advocacy groups. A popular protest site is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and the Chancery building of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Such advocacy groups have been commemorating the Discoverer's Day holiday as their own alternative, Indigenous Peoples Day. The week is called Indigenous Peoples Week.

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Nevada

Columbus Day is not a legal holiday in Nevada, but it is a day of observance. Schools and state, city and county government offices are open for business on Columbus Day.^[4]

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South Dakota

In the state of South Dakota, the day is officially a state holiday known as "Native American Day", not Columbus Day.^[5]

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Día de la Raza

The date of Columbus' arrival in the Americas is celebrated in Latin America (and in some Latino communities in the USA) as the Día de la Raza ("day of the people"), commemorating the first encounters of Europe and Native Americans. The day was first celebrated in Argentina in 1917, Venezuela in 1921, Chile in 1923, and Mexico in 1928. The day was also celebrated under this title in Spain until 1957, when it was changed to the "Día de la Hispanidad" ("Hispanic Day").

In 2002, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela changed the name to "Día de la Resistencia Indígena" ("Day of Indigenous Resistance"). This is celebrated on Columbus Day, instead of celebrating Christopher Columbus, they celebrate the different races.

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Opposition to Columbus Day

In A People's History of the United States, historian Howard Zinn discusses the cruelty he says Columbus inflicted upon Native Americans and how it was comparable to the genocidal acts of World War II. Zinn accuses Columbus of being a religious fanatic with an obsession of eliminating non-Christians, by means of murder, conversion, or at the very least, enslavement. He claims that Columbus was in search of personal wealth and fame, one who was willing to step over others or even kill them to achieve it. Allegedly, Columbus may have used more force than he admitted to his superiors. However, some assume that Columbus' subordinates were more responsible for the vast majority of the carnage carried out. Columbus himself claimed that he warned his men against taking advantage of the natives, as he had planned to eventually convert them to Christianity. A Spanish priest who traveled to Hispaniola wrote that he was appalled to witness dehumanizing acts of cruelty being inflicted on the Indians, such as torture used to subjugate their leaders. Many of the natives ended up dying from starvation, disease, or simply being overworked.

Opposition to the holiday cites this cruelty committed by those under Columbus' leadership and that of many of the following conquistadors. Columbus directly brought about the demise of many Taino (Arawak) Indians on the island of Hispaniola,^{[citation needed]} and the arrival of the Europeans indirectly caused the deaths of many indigenous peoples by bringing diseases previously unknown in the "New World." An estimated 85% of the Native American population was wiped out within 150 years of Columbus' arrival in America, due largely to diseases such as smallpox that spread among Native populations. Additionally, ensuing war and the appropriation of land and material wealth by European colonists also contributed to the decline of the indigenous populations in the Americas.^[6]

In the summer of 1990, 350 Native Americans, representatives from all over the hemisphere, met in Quito, Ecuador, at the first Intercontinental Gathering of Indigenous People in the Americas, to mobilize against the quincentennial celebration of Columbus Day. The following summer, in Davis, California, more than a hundred Native Americans gathered for a follow-up meeting to the Quito conference. They declared October 12, 1992, International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.

The largest ecumenical body in the United States, the National Council of Churches, called on Christians to refrain from celebrating the Columbus quincentennial, saying, "What represented newness of freedom, hope, and opportunity for some was the occasion for oppression, degradation and genocide for others."^[7]

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See also

• 1421 hypothesis
• Discoverer's Day
• Discovery Day
• Leif Erikson Day
• Population history of American indigenous peoples
• Thanksgiving (Canada)
• 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

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References

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External links

• Christopher Columbus — An Italian-American perspective on Columbus Day, from the OSIA
• Today in History: October 89 — An article about Columbus Day at The Library of Congress
• Native American Day in South Dakota
• Transform Columbus Day Alliance — Denver-based organization with background on opposition to Columbus Day
• Columbus Day Activities for Teachers
• Columbus Day Celebrates Western Culture - Frontpagemag.com