Donald Trump called to back the national holiday of Columbus Day. With a brief message on Truth Social, the former president demanded: "Bring back Columbus Day!"
Trump released the message on Monday, Oct. 10, the day traditionally known as Columbus Day. The Biden Administration announced plans to merge the holiday with so-called Indigenous Peoples' Day through a presidential proclamation in 2021. Since last year, both celebrations have shared the day as a concession by the president to certain lobbies fighting to eliminate Columbus Day, alleging that it disregards the suffering of Native Americans during European colonization:
On Indigenous Peoples Day, we honor America's first inhabitants and the tribal nations that continue to thrive today. I encourage all of you to celebrate and recognize all of the indigenous communities and cultures that make up our great country.
Columbus Day
Columbus Day is a national holiday celebrated in many countries in the Americas to commemorate the day that Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas from Spain: Oct. 12, 1492.
The first time the discovery of America was celebrated was in 1792, when the Tammany Society of New York and the Massachusetts Historical Society commemorated the 300th anniversary of the successful Spanish campaign to reach the New World. Despite having sailed for Spain, Columbus was of Genoese origin. For this reason, the Italian-American community celebrated the anniversary of Columbus's arrival as early as the late 19th century.
In 1937, Columbus Day became a national holiday under the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration. In 1971, it was decided that the day would no longer be celebrated on Oct. 12, rather on the second Monday of October.
Spanish heritage and criticism of the celebration
Christopher Columbus' first voyage was financed by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Isabella I and Ferdinand II. The explorer's original intention was to find a sea trade route between Europe and Asia ('the Indies'). However, Columbus mistakenly discovered the New World in a historical milestone that marked the start of the evolution of the American continent as we know it today.
Despite these achievements and the economic and social advances that they caused, many want to tarnish the image of Columbus' feat by pointing to the alleged atrocities committed by the European conquerors against the indigenous peoples. The truth is that since the beginning of the conquest, numerous laws were enacted to protect these peoples. One example is the Laws of the Indies, which promoted the defense of the natives against possible abuses.
However, in recent years, hatred from certain sectors of the extreme left has tarnished this celebration to the point of violence as well as vandalization and tearing down of historical monuments in protest of Columbus Day. Examples of this include the removal of statues of Columbus himself in various parts of the country along with acts of vandalism that began in socialist countries such as Hugo Chavez's Venezuela.
For this reason, many cities in the country do not hold parades on Columbus Day as they once used to. Many others changed the name of the holiday and celebrate Native American Day or Indigenous People's Day.
