Happy Indigenous Peoples Day

Nope, it's not Columbus Day.

Columbus Day only became a federal holiday in 1937, and it started as a way for Italian immigrants to be celebrated.

Most Italian-Americans I've talked to no longer have any desire to celebrate it. To be fair, Italians were persecuted (much like the Irish) for many years. It's not the same thing as racism, but it has to be acknowledged.

Columbus Day, thus, did not start as a celebration of white people finding the Americas (which is a good thing because that happened centuries earlier), but as a way to keep Italians from being lynched by emphasizing their allegiance to America.

Of course, this pushed indigenous people under the bus. The first state to ditch Columbus Day was South Dakota in...1990. It's been Native American Day there ever since.

Two years later, Berkeley, California, replaced Columbus Day with the Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.

These two things sparked the movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day. This is official in several states, either replacing Columbus Day or, in Oregon, alongside it. Even Columbus, Ohio, the largest city named for him has made the switch.

But what about the Italians?

First of all, Christopher Columbus was, and I don't say this lightly, an evil man. He enslaved people, he pissed off the King and Queen of Portugal with the way he treated natives so much they put him in jail. His crews hated him.

Second of all, Italians are now recognized fully as white. They aren't persecuted anymore. Pizza is as American as burgers. They don't need a holiday which celebrates an oppressor. (I mean, if we could have National Eat Pasta Day the way we have National Drink Green Beer Day I'd be totally behind it and I'd imagine most Italian-Americans would be too).

It's time to retire Columbus Day.

Thus, happy Indigenous Peoples Day and please take a moment to acknowledge the struggles and ongoing heritage of the people who did discover this continent, tens of thousands of years ago.