Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
In an obvious PC slam at Christopher Columbus, the Seattle School Board unanimously voted earlier this week to have public schools observe “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” on the second Monday of October, the same day as the Columbus Day federal holiday.
The resolution, in part, said the board “recognizes the fact that Seattle is built upon the homelands and villages of the Indigenous Peoples of this region, without whom the building of the City would not have been possible.”
The resolution also says the board “has a responsibility to oppose the systematic racism towards Indigenous people in the United States, which perpetuates high rates of poverty and income inequality, exacerbating disproportionate health, education and social crises.”
It urges district staff to “include the teaching of the history, culture and government of the indigenous peoples of our state.”
The Seattle City Council will vote next Monday, Oct. 6, whether to celebrate “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” on the same day as the Columbus Day holiday.
“We know Columbus Day is a federal holiday, we are not naive about that, but what we can do and what you have seen is a movement,” said Matt Remle, supporter of the Indigenous Peoples’ Day designation.
Columbus Day has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1937 and has been observed on the second Monday in October since 1970.
During a Seattle City Council committee meeting on Sept. 17, Italian Americans expressed their concerns. Many of them support Indigenous Peoples’ Day, but believe it should not replace Columbus Day.
The Italian Americans have every right to be concerned. There are 52 Mondays every year, and the Seattle Board of Ed picked Columbus Day for a reason.
Everyone knows Columbus didn’t discover America. The Vikings were here five centuries before Columbus (the Norse kind, not the Minnesota ones). And, yes, the indigenous people were there before both of them, having venture across the Bering Strait from what is now Russia.
There are some who even believe the ancient Hebrews came to America before Columbus, a theory I seriously doubt because we wouldn’t have come here before there was Chinese takeout. (Besides even today Jews don’t do boats unless it’s a cruise ship).
The point is that Columbus Day is seen as a day of Italian pride, not necessarily a celebration of a true story, but the politically correct crazies in Seattle have decided to do what most progressives do — push through a law that not only gives them what they want, but takes away from others.
Cross-posted at The Lid
