Why Not Indigenous Peoples' Day?

I am shocked at the hesitation people feel when confronted by the idea of Indigenous Peoples' Day. Ignoring the basic corruptions of the Spanish conquest, Columbus wasn’t an explorer as much as he was a merchant captain attempting to shorten his trip to the Indies for the reasons of profiting from shorter shipping routes. Miscalculating his position and finding the Caribbean did not make him the first European to set foot in the Americas. Lief Ericson holds that distinction. Furthermore, the idea that Columbus discovered America is problematic. When we reassess the “great explorer” distinction, and the “first to set foot on the new world” title, we really aren’t left with too many reasons to celebrate Columbus at the level of a national holiday, but I digress.

What we are left with is a Spanish conquest personified by Columbus that stopped at nothing to eradicate and/or enslave an entire race of people through warfare, biological agents, starvation and slavery. These people were responsible for genocide in many instances, eliminating entire populations and tribes. Celebrating Columbus is, in my opinion, on par with celebrating Stalin, Chairman Mao, or the last Emperor of Japan. All of these people contributed to history, but those contributions are not cause for celebration in America.

What I want to point out above all else is that the journals of Lewis and Clark, accounts of the Puritans, early settlers, and even the letters of Christopher Columbus himself are filled with stories of indigenous peoples displaying generosity, hailing, as they did and do, from societies focused on the common good. It was indigenous peoples who helped the Puritans survive their early years on this continent. It was an indigenous woman who lead Lewis and Clark to the Northwest. The Navajo Code Talkers saved countless lives in the Pacific theater during WWII. Are these not causes for celebration? There are many more.

Columbus may or may not have been a significant figure in American history, but his contribution should be kept in a global perspective, not idealized or made extraordinary while ignoring the negative and appalling things he did and said. This is especially true in America, where our collective identity should rise above race and focus on truth, justice, liberty and the acceptance of all people.