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I’m Italian-American. My Feelings About Columbus Day Are Complicated
It’s not about Columbus — it’s about the meaning behind it
It might be the most controversial federal holiday we have.
Columbus Day — alternately called Indigenous Peoples Day, Native American Day, or Cabrini Day — brings up strong feelings. Is this a holiday worth keeping, or one that celebrates a part of history that doesn’t deserve celebrating?
For many Italian-Americans it’s a day of pride — in the country our ancestors came from, in the country we now call home. It was a pivotal point in the journey that made us Americans.
For others, it’s unfathomable to name a holiday after a man who committed genocide and other atrocities, who discovered nothing that wasn’t already found, and who never even set foot on the land now known as the United States.
Why do we have a holiday celebrating such a man?
Because Columbus Day isn’t actually about Columbus.
It’s about a group of unwanted immigrants. It’s about the struggle to become American.
And in the beginning, it was about a mass lynching.
It all started on the night of October 15, 1890, in New Orleans — which was at the time a popular…
