Indigenous Peoples’ Day or Columbus Day: Social media reacts to holiday

The debate that has stirred in recent years to change the October holiday that celebrates Christopher Columbus, credited with discovering America, to a day that honors Native Americans who had been settled and cultivated the land well before his arrival in 1492 continued online Monday.

Today, 14 states and more than 130 cities are observing Monday as Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of or in addition to the federal holiday of Columbus Day, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The concept of Indigenous' Peoples Day was introduced during an international conference on discrimination sponsored by the United Nations in 1977, according to a USA Today report. South Dakota was the first state to recognize the day in 1989, and the cities of Berkeley and Santa Cruz, California, followed suit.

Many will still celebrate Columbus on this day, which was first designated by the United States in 1792 on the 300th anniversary of Columbus’ first day in what is referred to as the New World. Due to Columbus' heritage, many Italian-Americans also hold the holiday dear. However, several historians and activists have argued the holiday glorifies an exploration that brought about a negative chain reaction to Native Americans.

“Historians agree that for these Indigenous peoples, the arrival of Columbus and the Europeans who followed him was a calamity of catastrophic proportions. Over time, the population was decimated through war, disease, enslavement, forced displacement and genocide.”

Some supported that argument on social media Monday. One journalist pointed to the divide about the holiday, noting that President Donald Trump released a proclamation for Columbus Day while Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden put out a statement about Indigenous Peoples’ Day.