Not Celebrating Columbus Day Isn’t Enough

Hayley Serpa/Staff Writer

The ongoing debate about whether Columbus Day should be celebrated or replaced by Indigenous People’s Day is currently dividing the nation. Although it is one of ten federally recognized holidays, many states have realized that the celebration of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 is at the same time a celebration of the genocide of American indigenous communities. These states, including Florida, have listened to the protests of  indigenous communities against the celebration of European colonization and done away with Columbus Day, replacing it with either Indigenous People’s Day or Native American Day. 

Though many states have corrected their mistakes in celebrating Columbus Day, indigenous groups all over the U.S. still face discrimination and are one of the most vulnerable groups inside the States. According to a United Nations report on the indigenous peoples of North America, over 25% of Native Americans live well below the poverty line, in comparison to the 12.5% living below the poverty line in the general population. This economic divide is not due to an innate difference between natives and the rest of the U.S. population, as prior outdated racist attitudes assumed. It is due to the long term effects of a country that has consistently favored its white, male citizen, while disregarding the native inhabitants of a land they greedily stole and raped for resources. 

It is simply not enough to only give our Native Americans a federal or state holiday to commemorate their history, culture, and traditions.

It is simply not enough to only give our Native Americans a federal or state holiday to commemorate their history, culture, and traditions. The United States should be responsible for creating the vast socioeconomic and political divide that exists today between indigenous groups and white Americans, which can be seen in the historical and current conditions of South Floridian tribes. 

Over 500 years ago, before the first Spanish conquistadors, commanded by Juan Ponce de Leon, arrived in the green and lush land of what is Florida today, about 300,000 natives and eight distinct groups of aboriginals already called the Sunshine State their home. The largest of these tribes, and the only one that has been accurately identified, are the now-extinct Calusa.

A complex society with a chief and warrior class, the Calusa would provide a formidable opponent to the Spanish ambition of colonizing and profiting from the “newly-discovered” lands. The eradication of the powerful Calusa tribe and other indigenous groups by Spaniards, marks the beginning of a long history of oppression against indigenous groups in southern Florida that would be continued by U.S. inheritors in 1819 with the signing of the Florida Purchase Treaty. This would also mark the entrance of new indigenous groups, such as the Seminole and Miccosukee, in the Florida landscape. 

 The Seminole and Miccosukee tribes are the largest and most well-known in the state, with six Seminole reservations and a large Miccosukee reservation in the Everglades. But, if the original indigenous groups of South Florida became extinct after the initial Spanish invasion, where did the native tribes and reservations we see today come from?

 In a set of three wars from 1818 to 1858 called the Seminole Wars, a mix of various indigenous groups–who would later unite as the Seminole Nation–were forced to migrate south from Georgia to escape U.S. armed forces under the direction of General Andrew Jackson, the future seventh president of the U.S. However, even the migration to southern Florida was not enough to appease American interests. They would later attempt to displace the Seminoles to modern-day Oklahoma or ‘Indian Territory’, resulting in the mass migration of over 3,000 natives to the western territory. 

The vastly reduced number of Seminoles we see today in Florida are descendants of a small group of Seminoles who hid in the swamps of the Everglades to escape detection. The Miccosukee tribe is closely related to the Seminole tribe and would politically split off in 1962 to form their own Indian nation. These two tribes have fared better than indigenous groups in other states as both profit off the bustling tourism and casino industry in Florida, but most tribes do not own casinos and of those who do, the money has never been enough to significantly change the socioeconomic status or poverty levels of their tribe. 

While replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day is a step in the right direction, it was one that should have been taken decades earlier by the federal government, not by individual states.

Not only do Native Americans living on reservations, such as the Seminole and Miccosukee reservations, have disproportionately high poverty levels, but they also have a 500% higher rate of dying from tuberculosis and other severe illnesses in comparison to the general U.S. population. They do not have access to the same quality of healthcare and education on their reservations, which only increases the disparity gap between indigenous groups and non-indigenous peoples. The vulnerability of indigenous communities inside the States has only been emphasized with the novel coronavirus pandemic. During May of this pandemic, the Navajo reservation reported over 4,002 cases, taking over New York City as the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S.

While replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day is a step in the right direction, it was one that should have been taken decades earlier by the federal government, not by individual states. There are still many states, like New York, who continue celebrating the arrival of Columbus on the second Monday of October every year.

 No one is fed, helped, or saved by the proclamation of a national holiday for them. This is not only relevant for indigenous groups, but also for Hispanic Americans and Hispanic Heritage Month, African Americans and Black History Month, and the LGBTQ+ community and LGBT History Month.  The United States has a peculiar way of addressing its past racist and violent actions towards minorities; they think that its citizens will forget the injustices they or their neighbors have suffered because of a federal holiday. 

We must show that we are not fooled by their annual, colorful banners and well-articulated speeches by continuing to fight for the reduction of the socioeconomic gap of indigenous peoples in the U.S. Not celebrating Columbus Day is simply not enough.

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The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

Featured image by Boston Public Library on Unsplash