State lawmaker proposes changing name of Columbus Day
A member of the state House of Representatives proposed legislation to change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
State Rep. Joe Salazar (D-Thornton) told the Denver Post that recognizing Columbus Day glosses over a tragic chapter of human history.
Colorado was the first state to make Columbus Day a state holiday in 1907, and it has been part of Pueblo tradition for decades.
“This is a day that started in Pueblo, Colorado. Thousands of people came on a train from Denver for the sculpture,” said Gino Carleo, with Sons of Italy.
The group believes the sculpture is a reminder of its Italian-heritage and a name change would ruin that.
“The Italians have decided to celebrate one day for their heritage and that’s Columbus Day. We don’t oppose if they want to have a different day as Indigenous People’s Day, but we’re opposed to taking away the name Columbus Day,” said Louie Carleo, with Sons of Italy.
In the bill introduced, State Rep. Joe Salazar said Columbus shouldn’t be honored because of his well-documented crimes against humanity. Some groups in Southern Colorado agree with those statements.
“It’s very important that we recognize the indigenous people and clear the historical wrongs of the genocides and the making of a Columbus as a hero. Columbus was no type of hero for America or indigenous people,” said Red Dog Rudy, coordinator for Southern Colorado Chapter of American Indian Movement.
Almost every Columbus Day holiday there are protests in Pueblo in front of the Christopher Columbus monument and some feel if the name changed it would eliminate protests.
“If there’s no more Columbus day, the demonstrations go away. There should never have been a Columbus Day. A lot of things change over time, at that time it was a sign of the times, today it’s not,” said Rita Martinez, community organizer for Abolish Columbus Day.
If anything changes, Rudy hopes it’ll allow all cultures to celebrate.
“Let’s come together and realize the historical facts of the issue and learn how to celebrate one another’s culture,” said Rudy.
The Sons of Italy said it has a group working to defeat the law. If the bill does pass, the day would become a state holiday.
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