Christopher Columbus
DELGADO | Out With Columbus Day and in With Indigenous Peoples’ Day
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Columbus Day is observed on the second Monday of October in the United States in order to recognize the contributions of Italian Americans and to commemorate the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the “New World” in 1492. The United States has arguably played the largest role in celebrating Columbus while ignoring the consequences of his actions. For this reason, over eight states, 130 cities and 10 universities are recognizing a more deserving alternative — Indigenous Peoples’ Day. I believe that building awareness of the history of Christopher Columbus’s behavior would lead anyone to the conclusion that Indigenous Peoples’ Day should replace Columbus Day — and that Cornell, Tompkins County and America at large aren’t doing enough to make up for Columbus’s actions and the patterns of behavior that he started. In 1492, Columbus began a series of four voyages to the Carribean.