Weighing in on Columbus Day controversy

(THE PICKET)—In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, but in 2015, his reputation is a bit more nuanced.

Columbus Day, the yearly October commemoration of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus’s claiming of the New World for Spain, has come under fire lately by Native American activists who say Columbus wasn’t the hero he’s often made out to be. Albuquerque, N.M. has scrapped the holiday in favor of “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” Seattle, Wash. did the same last year; and on the state level, South Dakota observes “Native American Day,” while Hawaii commemorates its Polynesian discoverers with “Discoverers’ Day.”

Many Italian-Americans see Columbus, born in Genoa, as a source of pride, and oppose any efforts to do away with the holiday. “By this resolution you say to all Italian Americans that the city of Seattle no longer deems your heritage or your community worthy of recognition,” Lisa Marchese, an Italian-American activist told the Seattle Times in the wake of Seattle’s recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

“Columbus didn’t even discover America, so why do we care?,” said Carlos Amaya, a 22-year-old senior majoring in political science, referencing the fact that Columbus, while he did sail to the Caribbean and claim some of its islands for Spain, never set foot in what is today the United States.

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