Goodbye, Columbus: Many favor renaming of holiday

AMHERST — Since 1937, Columbus Day, celebrating one of Europe’s early discoverers of North America, has been a federally observed holiday.

But in light of ongoing conversations surrounding the 15th-century explorer’s legacy, a growing number of communities are choosing to leave Columbus in the past.

Each year, towns, cities, universities and states join the movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.

In 2016, Amherst became the first community in the state to formally replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. Just a day later, the Northampton City Council voted to make the same change, becoming the second Massachusetts community to drop Columbus.

Walking in Amherst on Monday, Alex Campos counted himself as a supporter of renaming Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, citing the tragedies endured by Native Americans due to Columbus’ arrival.

“We celebrate a genocide,” Campos said. “It’s horrible that we celebrate something like that.”

University of Massachusetts student Summer Erickson said that she finds the change particularly pertinent in light of the NODAPL protests that occurred in 2016 and 2017 in response to approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was met with staunch opposition among the area’s Native American communities.

“I think controversy should be expected, because people don’t like change,” Erickson said. “I think it’s a good thing overall.”

Renaming Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day has not been the only effort to disassociate from controversial historical figures within Amherst. In August, Amherst College announced that the Lord Jeffery Inn, which the school owns, will be known as the Inn on Boltwood beginning in early 2019.

Amherst College committed to renaming the inn over two years ago, and announced in 2016 that it would get rid of its mascot, Lord Jeff, who was also named after Lord Jeffery Amherst. The school’s association with Lord Amherst, the commander-in-chief of the British forces during the French and Indian War, was criticized due to the historical figure’s advocacy of using smallpox-infested blankets to wipe out the Native American population.

According to Indigenous Peoples Day MA, a group that advocates for replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day at the state level, six Massachusetts cities or towns currently observe Indigenous Peoples Day: Northampton, Amherst, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge and Somerville. Boston, however, is noted as celebrating both Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day, rather than replacing the holiday.

Outside of Massachusetts, even Columbus, Ohio, did not observe the holiday this year. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office denied that this decision is related to Indigenous Peoples Day, according to the Washington Post; instead, the city is choosing to focus its resources on Veterans Day.

Outside of state and municipality-wide observances, Indigenous Peoples Day also has proponents among schools, individuals and other organizations.

But not everyone agreed with renaming Columbus Day.

Brian Gary, of Holyoke, said that people should be able to discuss the name of the holiday if they find it problematic, but he does not think that Columbus Day should be replaced by Indigenous Peoples Day.

“I don’t think Columbus Day is necessary, but to completely erase the history, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Gary said.

Some advocates of Columbus Day also argue that the holiday should be recognized as a celebration of Italian-American heritage.

In Easthampton, Joseph Dickinson said the United States can’t undo its violent history, but that replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day is a positive step forward.

“I don’t think that (Columbus’) name lends a good overall picture … I just don’t think that we should celebrate his name because he was ruthless in how he treated the indigenous people,” Dickinson said.

Dickinson compared the issue of replacing Columbus Day to recent controversies regarding whether statues of Confederate leaders from the Civil War should be removed.

“We don’t need to have them to know that history… We know what that history is — now we need to celebrate other things that are more important,” he said.