Should Maryland continue celebrating Columbus Day?

By Jordan Kendall
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

As Baltimore moves to rename Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day, the question becomes: should the rest of the state follow?

So far, Prince George’s, Montgomery, and Howard counties as well as the cities of Rockville and Takoma Park have renamed the holiday that celebrated the 15^th century explorer Christopher Columbus.

Earlier this year, the General Assembly tried to rename the holiday after native people statewide, but the bill did not make it out of committee.

The Baltimore City Council is now waiting to see if Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young will sign the legislation it passed on Monday to change the name of Columbus Day.

“We have been advocating for this for several years,” said Jessica Dickerson, a member of Indigenous Strong, an advocacy group representing the estimated 60,000 Native Americans in Maryland. “We feel it’s most important because as native people who still live here in Baltimore, the fact that our city chooses to celebrate someone who has done so much harm to this land, to our people, we do not believe that is something we should be celebrating.”

Baltimore City, along with Howard County, are among an increasing number of states, cities and counties across America that have made the change in recent years. Since 1992, 12 states, Washington, DC, and 130 cities have renamed the holiday either Indigenous People’s Day or Native American Day.

PG County made the change last year while Montgomery and Howard counties took action this year.

“I thought it was important that we have constructive discussions about our history, and as we look at our geography in Howard County alone, we have names like Patuxent and Potomac,” Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said in an interview. “We need to look at the people who are directly connected to the land.”

Baltimore City’s decision was not universally celebrated.

Maryland Del. Nino Mangione, R-Baltimore County, said the recent attacks on Christopher Columbus is a form of discrimination against the Italian-American community in Baltimore.

“I think they took another step into the abyss,” Mangione said of the council’s vote. “I think it’s a racist and intolerable action to get rid of Columbus Day. The Italian-American community is very proud, and it means a lot to them. It’s an assault on the Italian-American community.”

Columbus Day was first officially celebrated in 1892 when President Benjamin Harrison released a proclamation 400 years after Columbus’s first voyage, but it was not officially a holiday until President Franklin Roosevelt designated it one in 1934.

While Columbus is celebrated for his role in the discovery of North America, he is also considered a controversial figure for his treatment of indigenous people.

Columbus used indigenous people as slaves, and his polices were responsible for significantly decreasing the native populations in the Caribbean. In what is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic he decreased the native Taino population from 8 million to 3 million in three years.

His treatment of indigenous people has led to protests and debates around the country over whether the holiday should continue to be celebrated. In July, a Columbus statue in Baltimore was taken down by protestors.

“We have to have a rule of law,” Mangione said. “We can’t have mobs destroying things they don’t like. When it comes to the history, we should learn from it, take the good things the people did that we’re celebrating and if they have flaws, we should learn from those flaws.”

One local organization that is leading the fight to keep Columbus Day is the Italian American Civic Club of Maryland. While the group agrees with Mangione that changing the holiday discriminates against their community, they also feel there are more important issues that should be focused on.

“Why in a time of crisis with the pandemic and obvious violent crime in the city, how can the name of a holiday even be on the agenda,” the club said in a statement. “Our elected civil servants need to fight the battles that are real.”

The club said in its statement that since June 25 they have reached out to every member of the City Council, the mayor, city solicitor, and police commissioner but have not heard back from any of them.

Paul Kropseob, a member of the civic club’s board of directors, said Italian Americans are proud of Columbus because of the adversity he overcame in defying the odds of traveling across the Atlantic.

“Because everybody told him no, it couldn’t be done, you’re not going to find a passage,” Kropseob said. “My view is it’s because of the accomplishment. It was a big accomplishment back then. He almost didn’t make it back. If he didn’t make it back it would’ve prolonged the discovery.”

One of the common misconceptions about Columbus is that he discovered America. In reality, Columbus never set foot in North America.

Towson University history professor Akim Reinhardt said this misconception contributes to the controversy surrounding the holiday.

“I think that’s because more and more Americans are recognizing that native people had their lands stolen from them by Europeans – and people also recognize Columbus doesn’t have any real tie to the United States,” Reinhardt said. “So, I think the combination of recognizing the wrongs that native people suffered and Columbus’s connection to the United States leaves a lot of people questioning why we celebrate him.”

Reinhardt said that Italian-Americans played a significant role in the creation of the holiday. They had a history of discrimination and saw Columbus Day as a way to show their impact on America since Columbus was born in Italy.

In addition to state and local governments, student government associations around the state have also taken action against Columbus Day.

In the last few years, student government groups at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland have passed legislation to change the holiday. Towson University also just passed a resolution.

“Indigenous Peoples’ Day honors the past, present, and futures of native peoples throughout the US,” the Towson SGA said in the resolution passed on Sept. 29. “The holiday recognizes the legacy and impact of colonialism on native communities, and it also celebrates the cultures, contributions, and resilience of contemporary native peoples.”

Dominique White, Towson’s the director of Diversity and Inclusion, said the SGA’s vote was an important step in rectifying the past.

“It is imperative that we make strides to rectify the harm and genocide that was carried out on this land,” White said in an email. “As we do this, we also have to make strides to make decolonization a central part of our university curriculum and culture, and this piece of legislation was a small step towards that.”

Courtney Ferguson contributed to this story.