COMMENTARY | Columbus Day has become a rather controversial holiday, and although there will be no mail delivery with post offices and other government offices closed on Monday and some cities celebrating the day with parades, in two states there will be no Columbus Day at all.
For the last 21 years, the people who live in South Dakota have celebrated Native American Day instead of Columbus. In 1990, when the legislation was passed, the year became known as the "Year of Reconciliation."
South Dakota has a rich background of Native American heritage and celebrates the people who were the first to live in America as a sign of respect and recognition. Today, there are nine federally recognized Native American tribes in the Mount Rushmore state. The purpose of the holiday is to help inform the public about Indian heritage, rather than to continue to perpetuate the myths of Christopher Columbus.
In Hawaii, the holiday is known as Discover's Day, or Landing Day.
Christopher Columbus was not the first to discover America, as many of our schools taught us as we were growing up. The honor should most likely be given to the vikings, who were known to sail across treacherous seas, and reached the shores of American some 500 years before Columbus was said to have arrived in 1492.
Christopher Columbus was the exterminator of Native Americans. He brought the population of Taino Indians from 8 million down to 3 million in just four years, appointing himself the governor of the land. By the time Columbus left that position, there were only 100,000 natives left. The policies of Columbus remained, and in 1514, the population was down to 22,000.
Columbus' explorations and genocide of a people became the beginning of the destruction and elimination of the Native American culture. A culture that Europeans and others arriving to the continent could have learned a lot from, but instead, in their ignorance, deemed themselves superior to those who knew how to live in harmony with the land.
Isn't it time the day becomes a celebration of the Native American culture in all states instead of celebrating a man who was bent on its destruction? Teaching our children the true stories of a people who walked the nation in peace and in balance with Mother Nature, instead of celebrating genocide, can only mean a better future for America, and the planet we live on.
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