Unless of course your work lets you have this Monday off. Three-day weekend! Forgive and forget? No? Seems we might have a moral dilemma here.

But wait, you can hang on to sense your self-respect AND still get a three-day weekend!!

What if y'all still got Indigenous Peoples Day off?

You do if you're a federal employee.  Because Columbus Day is recognized as one of the ten Federal holidays in a year.  So you'll be off work because of Columbus, and not so much because indigenous people were here first.  But, if you're not a federal employee, then we'll see you Monday.

South Dakota, that's right SOUTH DAKOTA!

South Dakota was in the lead on the whole darn thing.  Back in 1989 South Dakota came outta nowhere proclaiming the formerly designated Columbus Day as Native American Day in the state.

In 1989, the South Dakota legislature unanimously passed legislation proposed by Governor George S. Mickelson to proclaim 1990 as the "Year of Reconciliation" between Native Americans and whites, to change Columbus Day to Native American Day and to make Martin Luther King's birthday into a state holiday.[2] Since 1990, the second Monday in October has been celebrated as Native American Day in South Dakota.

Ok, maybe South Dakota was the modern-day lead on Columbus Day reform, but ultra-libs California was on Native American recognition back in 1939.

In 1939, Governor Culbert Olson declared October 1 to be "Indian Day", making California the first state to honor this holiday. In 1968, Governor Ronald Reagan signed a resolution calling for a holiday called American Indian Day, to be held the Fourth Friday in September. In 1998, the California Assembly passed AB 1953, which made Native American Day an official state holiday, observed annually on the fourth Friday in September.

But that's not really canceling Columbus but instead celebrating a whole separate "Indian Day" with the world!  Maybe another sanctioned holiday? Clearly then, we'd probably have to hang on to Columbus Day, y'know for the additional day off.

So when did we actually start getting pissed off at Christopher Columbus?

Protesters Tear Down Christopher Columbus Statue Outside Minnesota State Capitol
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For me it was 2nd grade when they wanted everyone to know 1492...and the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. That's maybe even the only history you still know today. It's like it was taught at a cellular level.  Italian guy discovers America while landing in the Bahamas. We were never told you can't go to someone's house and "discover it".  I guess it was assumed.  But not really brought up.

One thing I didn't know was that Columbus went on to kill thousands and thousands and thousands of American natives.

Did he do that?  Doesn't seem like it...he is a dick tho'.

This from his Wikipedia page.

 His landing place was an island in the Bahamas, known by its native inhabitants as Guanahani. Columbus subsequently visited the islands now known as Cuba and Hispaniola, establishing a colony in what is now Haiti. Columbus returned to Castile in early 1493, bringing a number of captured natives with him. Word of his voyages soon spread throughout Europe.

Columbus made three further voyages to the Americas, exploring the Lesser Antilles in 1493, Trinidad and the northern coast of South America in 1498, and the eastern coast of Central America in 1502. Many of the names he gave to geographical features—particularly islands—are still in use. He also gave the name indios ("Indians") to the indigenous peoples he encountered. The extent to which he was aware that the Americas were a wholly separate landmass is uncertain; he never clearly renounced his belief that he had reached the Far East. As a colonial governor, Columbus was accused by his contemporaries of significant brutality and was soon removed from the post. Columbus's strained relationship with the Crown of Castile and its appointed colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and removal from Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over the benefits that he and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown. 

Head Removed From Christopher Columbus Statue In North End Of Boston
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CAN WE ALL AGREE...We give Columbus too much credit and too much condemnation.

But federal employees still get Columbus day off and the Capitol is still in the District of Columbia.  Y'know, named for Columbus...Washington DC, whose NFL team was until recently- the Redskins.

Hopefully, y'all get Monday off for whatever reason.

Now let's all keep getting along.


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