Another October 11 has come and gone. Since 1892, the 400-year anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ journeys across the ocean blue, Americans have recognized the day as Columbus Day.
In the past few years, activists have been fighting for the renaming of the holiday to ‘Indigenous People’s Day,’ as a tribute to the Native lives lost due to the explorers’ fight to conquer new land.
The pressure has been on President Joe Biden to make the switch final.

President Biden’s official statement called for the celebration of both Indigeneous people and Italian-Americans, groups which he said played integral parts in creating America as it’s known today.
“Many Italians would follow [Columbus’] path in the centuries to come, risking poverty, starvation and death in pursuit of a better life,” Biden said in his statement.

Biden seems to be describing immigrants, which is interesting, considering Columbus himself conquered foreign lands with force, instead of the common immigrants’ plight of giving up everything in their old home and making their way to a new country that is full of uncertainties.

The holiday will now recognize two names, as Biden says “in honor of our diverse history and all who have contributed to shaping this Nation.”

As the descendant of Cuban immigrants, my initial reaction was to be upset with Biden. How could he honor the legacy of a man who, for many minorities in this country, represents the fear and oppression created by outside forces? It is just as ingrained in American children that Columbus and his fellow explorers destroyed and pillaged their way across several existing nations, that they arrived here on the ships Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.
I have come to realize, however, that this country is more than just a place that was stolen from Indigenous people. It’s a place immigrants and native people alike will fight for and call their own. Columbus may have stolen this land, but he did not do anything to make the United States into the growing and advancing place it is today.

I am not one to get overly patriotic, especially surrounding this topic, but I encourage you to do some research into the argument for changing “Columbus Day” to “Indigenous People’s Day.” Perhaps we’re a country that grows strong in the face of the oppressor, or a country that has simply learned how to coexist with it.

Wherever Biden stands on the issue has more influence than he may realize: children in our education system will learn both sides of this nation’s origins and history. Perhaps they will forget the names of the ships and remember who they are supposed to stand up for.

Article by Julia Chamberlain