Columbus Day discriminatory, groups say

Honoring Christopher Columbus with a national holiday celebrates a history of genocide against the world’s indigenous peoples and should be discontinued, demonstrators from several student ethnic organizations said yesterday.

About 50 students participated in a rally to try and reclaim Columbus Day and re-dub it “Indigenous People’s Day.” The event was held out of respect for native inhabitants of the Americas who were forced out of their homes by colonists and conquistadors, said Tyson Johnston, ASUW director of diversity efforts.

“I think people take Columbus Day for granted and think, ‘Oh, it’s just another holiday,’” Johnston said. “But it represents so much genocide and loss of culture for many people who find it extremely offensive that the government recognizes it as a national holiday.”

Often American history classes teach a very glamorized version of Christopher Columbus’ deeds and gloss over the suffering he and later European settlers brought on the native peoples of North America, said Andres Acob , an officer in the Chicano student group MEChA.

“We’re taught that he’s one of the good people who colonized and explored, but in reality, a lot of it is a history of brutality,” Acob said.

Columbus Day should be abolished as a national holiday because it sends a message of disrespect to Native Americans and others that suffered at the hands of European colonists, said Casey Wynecoop, an officer in First Nations at UW.

“What it says to me is the genocide and everything that happened is correct and supported,” Wynecoop said. “Not only does it honor the wrong person, it is dishonoring the people who were here.”

Other organizations represented at the demonstration included Anakbayan at UW, a Filipino activist group; La Raza, the ASUW commission for Latino students; the African Student Union; the Black Student Union; and the Q Center.

Even though not all the participants represented cultures that were oppressed during the colonization of the Americas, the issue affects people all over the world, said Cherish Consolacion, an officer in Anakbayan at UW.

“Receiving an education here, I learned about the history of the Americas, and I relate it to what has happened to the Filipinos,” Consolacion said. “Not only do we as Filipinos have solidarity, we have solidarity with other indigenous groups because we’re all affected by the same issues.”

Reporter Melissa Santos: melissasantos@thedaily.washington.edu.