During a session at the recent 66th Annual Convention of the National Congress of American Indians in Palm Springs, Calif., a tribal leader brought up the issue of the BIA celebrating Columbus Day as a holiday and letting workers take the day off. The chair suggested the BIA was not culturally sensitive to tribal communities when it gives special notice to Columbus Day.
Columbus Day in the United States is celebrated Oct. 12, and has been a U.S. federal government holiday since 1934. The holiday was established through long term lobbying efforts from the Italian-American community and the Knights of Columbus, a Christian society. The celebration marks the day when the three ships led by Columbus first saw land in what is commonly known as the New World, or the Americas. Most indigenous and many non-indigenous people find this a rather ironic comment, since there were millions of people already living in what came to be called the Americas by the Europeans.
The international community gathered to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in 1992. However, indigenous peoples in the Americas were highly critical of the celebrations since they viewed Columbus’ voyages as initiating considerable destruction over the next 500 years, including genocide, disease, political subjugation, forced cultural assimilation, enslavement and loss of land.
In the 1990s, some indigenous organizations suggested Columbus Day be recast as a day commemorating the solidarity of indigenous peoples, or a day commemorating the resistance and survival of indigenous peoples. A few cities in California now celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day Oct. 12. The state of South Dakota celebrates Native American Day. Some tribal governments also celebrate Native American Day or recognize their own tribe on that day. Many tribal governments, however, do not take part and further suggest that state and federal governments should not commemorate Columbus Day.
Should the BIA celebrate the federal holiday? The BIA is a federal agency and must conform to federal rules and regulations. The establishment of Columbus Day as a federal holiday was initiated by an executive order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Executive orders originate with and can be modified by the president. If Columbus Day was established by an act of Congress, then it might be much more difficult to change.
It will probably be impossible to abolish Columbus Day as a federal holiday, but the BIA has a unique relation to American Indians that includes fostering political and cultural development and relations with the U.S. federal government. Justifications could and should be made to the president to withdraw the BIA’s obligation to celebrate Columbus Day. Renaming the holiday to American Indian Day or something similar may remind many Native people about the day when the harsh treatment of indigenous people began.
November is already celebrated as Native American month. Tribal leaders should ask the president to issue an executive order enabling the BIA to cease celebrating Columbus Day. The president could instead designate that the BIA celebrate a more culturally appropriate and renamed holiday in November. Such a plan will solve the various problems confronting the BIA when it commemorates a day that many, if not most, indigenous people do not want to recognize.
