summary:
CNN released a thought provoking article about renaming Columbus Day to Idigenous Peoples Day. The article was released today, on the day that many states were celebrating the traditional namesake while the state of Vermont and the cities of Denver and Phoenix joined the growing list of places celebrating Native Americans.
analysis:
Because of my strong opinion about the misrepresented legacy of Columbus prior to reading this article, it was easy to understand and support the 14 communities who don't want to honor Columbus with a holiday. This article was fairly light in the reporting only showing support and quotes from local level students and professors but did make a point that if you know your history this holiday may be worth rethinking. The article is important because it shows that as opinions and acceptance evolves there will continue to be areas of our future that should be noted but not necessarily honored. It brings up a bigger question that the idea of holidays and prescribing the people or things that are important to some may not be important to a country that is as diverse as the United States of America. It's not to say that history is not relevant but there are many points that you can draw from this one article that shows that what is an honor for one group may be a disgrace for another. A win for one man is a loss for another. This can be compared to the 3/5 compromise in the way that the federalists benefited from the new voting laws but the African Americans were still being used and treated unfairly
source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/09/us/columbus-day-indigenous-peoples-day/index.html
I agree that Columbus is often misrepresented as a hero, when in reality he caused so much more harm than good. I think taking this holiday and changing it to honor the lives lost to his destruction is a change that's long overdue. We need to show respect to the minorities that never got their rightful representation in history. -Olivia Moretta
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