Columbus never set foot on US soil, why do we celebrate him?
Leading this charge is Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, who hopes that if such a day is adopted it would highlight native culture in Los Angeles and have a healing effect for the tribes that have suffered so much through history.
A handful of other US cities have ditched Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day, but O’Farrell says he is not calling for a replacement of the holiday. The motion he filed makes no mention of a specific date for what would be a new city holiday.
O’Farrell did say that after he began to consider it last year, he found Columbus undeserving of recognition. The councilman said, “the historical record is pretty clear, that Christopher Columbus, who never set foot in the contiguous United States, had a very, very violent sort of history, and enslaved the Taínos, who were the original inhabitants of present-day Dominican Republican and Haiti, and that population was basically annihilated through slavery and worse. So Christopher Columbus represents for many, many people across the United States not someone to be celebrated."
Los Angeles was originally inhabited by the Tongva people, who lived along the L.A. River.
The L.A. City Council is currently waiting for a report back on the effects of establishing an Indigenous Peoples Day in the city.
More on L.A.’s considering Indigenous Peoples Day can be found here.