Columbus Day or Indigenous People’s Day?

Columbus Day started as a celebration for newcomers to the shores of America but has come under fire in recent years due to the controversial history behind the settling of America.

Why The Contention: Columbus Day was officially marked a national holiday in 1892. President Benjamin Harrison attempted to celebrate the Italian heritage that helped found this nation by introducing Christopher Columbus. This came just one year after a mob raided a jail in Louisiana, lynching 11 Italian Americans over a lack of justice regarding the murder of Police Chief, David C. Hennessy. The holiday, formed to celebrate America as a melting pot of all nationalities, was also seen by some as an insult to the Indigenous peoples of America, who were prone to disease and war following the European settlers' discovery of the land.

From The Left: Outlets on the left such as the Washington Post (Lean Left bias) tended to frame things from a historical perspective, citing the lynching that started the holiday and explaining that it was an “accident of history” that allowed Columbus Day to start and concluded that this case “demonstrates how anti-immigrant rhetoric in the  United States rhymes through the ages.”

From the Right: Sources on the right like the Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) highlighted Kamala Harris’s historical support of the cancellation of Columbus Day. It went on to cite several Republicans calling the day an “American tradition” and saying with Trump “it will always be Columbus Day.”