Should Marylanders Stop Celebrating "Columbus" Day?
Updated: Jan 16
Do you consider yourself "awoke"? Then, you might consider abandoning celebrating Columbus Day. The debate continues. Should we celebrate Columbus Day or should we officially change the name of the holiday and celebrate Indigenous People's Day? The question is rooted in the mistreatment of the Native Americans that inhabited the land prior to Christopher Columbus's arrival to the Americas, October 12, 1492.
In case you need a little background: since 1971, in the US, we have celebrated the Italian explorer's discovery of the Americas. To honor him, the day was named Columbus Day. It is celebrated on the second Monday in October, this year it falls on October 10, 2022. However, how can you discover something that's already been discovered? Long before his arrival, not only had another settler made the Americas his home (Leif Erikson, Greenland AD 980), but Native Americans were already there.
Many cities and states recognize this discrepancy and have either officially changed the name of the holiday--or do not celebrate it at all. Some of those places are: Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Oregon, South Dakota, many cities in California, cities in Minneapolis, and Seattle, WA (to name a few).
What do you think Maryland's stance should be?