Cities like Portland, St.
Paul, and Albuquerque are taking steps to rename “Columbus Day” to eradicate
the negative connotation that goes with the colonization of American and
treatment of indigenous peoples. By keeping this name, opponents of the name “Columbus
Day” say that America solidifies the idea that the genocide of entire cultures
is expected and condoned. City councils are trying to rename the day to “Native
American Day” to help raise awareness for these people. Native Americans make
up only 2% of the US population and 30% live in poverty. Supporting this change
would help improve the quality of live, which the white house says is ”a
national crisis.” This change would also help preserve a somewhat lost culture.
In the late 1800s Native Americans struggled to keep their
land. Many laws were pasted that forced Native Americans out without much
justification.
The trail of tears was part of Andrew Jackson’s Indian
Removal Act, which killed 4000 Cherokee. Later European ways, like clothing and
religion, were adopted to survive, but Native Americans still face many set
backs today because of this.
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/10/09/on-columbus-day-the-explorer-isnt-always-welcome?int=a14709
Heather Hatch 8th period: Okay, even though I think this is a good step in the right direction, I don't think just simply changing the name of a day that is just a day off of school for some people will better the lives of native americans. I think that if they would just do away with Columbus Day altogether and picked a more significant day in Native American History to be named "Native American Day" it would cause a greater change. We could make that change even better if we could take that day, not to watch Netflix at home, but to learn about Native American culture in our history classes and throughout the day to maybe bring light to the beautiful culture they were.
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