Happy Columbus Day

Why do we need to celebrate the 1492 “discovery” of continents that had been inhabited for thousands of years?

Columbus and his fellow Europeans conquered, stole from, and passed disease on to the thriving native populations of Americas. And this guy is remembered with his own holiday? Come on.

We’d do better to change “Columbus Day” to a day of remembrance for the native cultures that were wiped out by disease or assimilation.

And a side note: I feel the same way about Leif Ericson. Maybe he was the first European on American soil, maybe he wasn’t. Is it really that significant?

As long as we’re celebrating Columbus’ and Ericson’s arrivals to America, why not everyone else who immigrated here?