The proclamation as a national holiday of the Day of the Indigenous Peoples coinciding with Columbus Day aggravates the controversy over the European discoverers
The calendar marks both holidays on October 12. Columbus Day and the Day of the Indigenous Peoples, in memory of a story that emerged five hundred years ago and that today, more alive than ever, is settled between disinformation about the past, inclusion policies and supremacist tensions. Joe Biden’s proclamation on Friday of Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a national holiday appears to have added fuel to the complicated controversy.
The White House recognizes the painful history of grievances and atrocities that “many European explorers inflicted on tribal nations,” as well as the greatness of facing, rather than burying, the “shameful episodes of the past.” It is an attempt at difficult reconciliation that attempts at the same time to acknowledge the arrival of European colonialism that gave rise to the country and, in turn, support the condemnation of the genocide and dispossession of native communities after the arrival of Columbus.
For Native tribal activists, however, celebrating both holidays on the same day is a contradiction. According to indigenous historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of ‘The History of the United States for Native Peoples’ and ‘Not a Nation of Immigrants’, on the one hand the principle of genocide and slavery is commemorated, and on the other it is celebrated that the indigenous peoples continue even under colonization with land cuts and without real sovereignty.
For Les Begay, member of the Diné Nation and co-founder of the Illinois Indigenous Peoples’ Day Coalition, the defenders of the Columbus holiday try to sell a benevolent image of the discoverer, comparable – according to him – to that created by the supremacists targets of Robert Lee, the bloodthirsty Confederate general of the Civil War. Not honoring indigenous peoples on this day is, according to Begay, continuing to erase indigenous history and contributions, as well as the fact that they are the first inhabitants of the country.
Catholic reluctance
Dunbar-Ortiz establishes the declaration of the United Nations Human Rights section in Geneva on October 12, 1977 as the day of mourning and solidarity with the indigenous people, the starting point of the movement to eliminate Columbus Day. According to the indigenous historian, the main opposition comes from the Catholic Church and the Italian-American community. Furthermore, in the southern and western states, where Spanish heritage is strong, many defend statues and the celebration of a legacy from which they consider themselves descendants.
Revolts against racial injustice and police brutality against people of color during the summer of 2020 further reignited the debate with the demolition or removal of 33 of the 150 statues of Columbus across the country.
.