The Don Jones Index, 10/2/26

The DON JONES INDEX…
	GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED 10/9/26... 14,395.47 10/2/26... 14,348.99 6/27/13... 15,000.00 Original
*(THE DOW* JONES INDEX: 10/9/26… 51,258.95; 10/2/26... 50,926.56; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)**

LESSON for FRIDAY, OCTOBER NINTH, 2026 – “GOODBYE, COLUMBUS?”

On Monday, the (allegedly) United States will celebrate (or deride) Columbus Day (or, here and there, Indigenous People’s Day) with parades and protests, pasta and picketing, pride and prejudice and... as yet unreleased for this year... a (probably partisan) Presidential Proclamation.

The 2025 missive from Donald Trump on the occasion read like a campaign speech, or perhaps one of his taxpayer finance commercial as have been bouncing around amid the numerous sporting showdowns of early October; especially the one we noted last week wherein the leader of the Free World (if still so) strides manfully down a corridor, scowling with hate as he denounces the Communists and the Fascists, the sick political class that hates our country and their lying media.

It started with laudatory appreciation of the original American hero, “a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth,” and then got personal...

”This Columbus Day, we honor his life with reverence and gratitude, and we pledge to reclaim his extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue from the left-wing arsonists who have sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory,” these being “indigenous people” (formerly “native Americans” and, more formerly “Indians”) as well as the wealthy, guilty white students at elite American universities who have joined in (and, now and again, usurped) their grievances. (ATTACHMENT ONE)

Briefly back to biography, the President gushed over the explorer’s “noble mission”... to “discover a new trade route to Asia, bring glory to Spain, and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to distant lands;” culminating in his October 12, 1492 landfall in the modern-day Bahamas.”

Upon his arrival, Trump continued, “he planted a majestic cross in a mighty act of devotion, dedicating the land to God and setting in motion America’s proud birthright of faith.” Though he initially believed he had arrived in Asia (therefore oops: the Indians!), his discovery “opened the vast frontier and untold splendors of the New World to Europe...” carrying thousands of years of “wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas — paving the way for the ultimate triumph of Western civilization less than three centuries later on July 4, 1776.”

And then back to the culture war, a declaration of victory (not dissimilar to Presidential pronouncements on a conquered Iran), a denunciation of villains (with an eye out to the midterms) and glorification of Himself.

“Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage. Before our very eyes, left-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces. Under my leadership, those days are finally over,” he opined on October 9, 2025 — and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: “Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination.”

POTUS then offered a tip o’ the cap to Italy and the Italians, offered our gratitude for the Columbian life of valor and grit... now also a TV station as unreels the Western movies of the past where Audie Murphy, Rory Calhoun and, of course, “the Duke” fend off armies of woo-woo Indians whose purpose, it often seems, is to ride in circles around wagon trains shouting “ woo woo woo” until picked off by the heroic settlers within.

Since 2025’s holiday arrived on a Sunday, and the propagation of the faith would not allow a national “unpaid” holiday to sully the spectacle commemorated by Congress in 1934 (and modified in 1968), Trump “...by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States,” proclaimed October 13, 2025, as Columbus Day.

This year, happy coincidence drops the Day on its original October 12^th, legitimizing the Federal, (most) State and Municipal and many private paid day off holidays for the workers.

An AI Overview of the particulars (ATTACHMENT TWO) disclosed the following:

Columbus Day is a U.S. federal holiday that commemorates Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. [1, 2]

Date and Observance

· Date: Observed annually on the second Monday in October. In 2026, it falls on October 12. [1]

· Status: It is one of the nation's federal holidays, meaning federal offices and banks are closed, though not all state governments grant it as a paid workday off. [1, 2, 3]

· Italian-American Heritage: For many communities, the day celebrates Italian-American culture, history, and achievements with parades, music, and street fairs. [1]

History

· Early Events: An early celebration took place in New York in 1792 to mark the 300th anniversary of the landing. [1]

· Establishment: President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed it a national holiday in 1937 following heavy lobbying by the Knights of Columbus. [1]

And a longer discourse upon Columbus, his expeditions and some of the responses from haters.

Brittanica (ATTACHMENT X10) mobilized its own staff and referenced references from other articles and outside sources like Merriam – Webster to included biographical and historical information on the explorer and his voyages.

After their short biography of the explorer, SWARK, (ATTACHMENT X03) noted that, “while the holiday is ostensibly reserved to celebrate the landing of Columbus in the New World, the holiday didn’t come to be until four centuries later.”

The motivation for the designation was a lynching... in March of 1891, eleven Italians arrested in the murder of the New Orleans chief of police were lynched by an “angry mob of locals”. With anti-Italian sentiment threatening to inspire more killing, President Benjamin Harrison “sought to sooth some of the tension by declaring a one-time national celebration of Columbus’ voyage in 1892, on the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the New World.”

Subsequently, the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal order, lobbied to have October 12 set as Columbus Day. “President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made the proclamation to designate the date in 1934, though it would not become a federal holiday until the late 1960s,” when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation to enshrine it as a federal holiday on June 28, 1968, which would go into effect on the second Monday in October, 1971.

More recently, the states of Alaska, parts of California, Florida, Hawaii, New Mexico, Maine, South Dakota, and Wisconsin no longer recognize the holiday, and have replaced it with “Indigenous People’s Day” in recognition of the original inhabitants of the New World. Several cities across the U.S. have also done away with the holiday, instead celebrating “Italian-American Heritage and Culture Day” instead.

By the time of Trump’s Proclamation of 2025, AXIOS (Oct. 10, ATTACHMENT X04) had noted the increasing number of states and cities who recognized Indigenous Peoples Day instead. In 2021, President Biden became the first president to issue an official proclamation commemorating Indigenous Peoples Day.

And in 2024, lawmakers in Congress reintroduced legislation to formally replace Columbus Day at the federal level — though the bill remains pending as of Oct. 2026.

Still, as of a year ago, 30 states and three U.S. territories recognize Columbus Day in some form, per Pew Research Center.

· Only 20 states and two territories make it a paid holiday for state workers.

· New Mexico, Maine, Vermont and D.C. officially celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead.

· Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island mark both holidays.

More openings (as of a year ago) and closings include...

Open: U.S. stock markets

Closed: Banks, and the USPS

UPS is open and delivering while FedEx has modified service Monday with early on-call pickups and drop box pickups in some areas, according to their holiday schedules.

Aside from President Trump, many conservatives have expressed support for Columbus Day and... if a bill proposed by Rep. Michael Rulli (R-Oh) becomes law, cities that cancel Columbus Day could lose federal funds. "This is about every son and daughter of Italy, every Knights of Columbus, every pasta dinner on Sunday, and every communion — everything that makes our culture who we are, from Philadelphia to San Francisco."

Rulli's new bill would both reaffirm Columbus Day as a federal holiday and punish cities and states that replaced the celebration of it with Indigenous Peoples Day.

"We are not going to allow any American municipality to think that they have power over the federal government," he said.

“Native Americans are some of the most amazing, dynamic cultural people that make up the fabric of America. But they need their own special day," Rulli said. "And I would be willing to do that. I'm saying right now, I would be willing to get the indigenous people their own day, but not this day."

Denying the critics, Rulli said the bill wasn’t meant to offend any of the indigenous people. “They deserve their own day. We will get them their own day, but not Columbus Day. This has already been embedded in our fabric for 130 years," he said.

Another AI Overview drew upon sources ranging from You Tube to Wiki to local and national media and ethnic sources like the National Museum of the American Indian (sic) to scrutinize the nomenclature dispute. (ATTACHMENT X11)

Some of the most vigorous Columbus haters and proponents of the name change were students in elite universities. Harvard.edu (October 5, 2017, ATTACHMENT X12) looked back to that fabled “once upon a time” when teachers celebrated Columbus Day by leading children in choruses of song about the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. “If the commemorations dealt at all with the impact of European exploration on the indigenous civilizations already flourishing in these “discovered” lands, it was often fleeting.

“In recent years, the conversation has become more nuanced, as educators — and people across the country — have begun to explore the many reasons why celebrating Christopher Columbus is problematic: the violent abuse of indigenous peoples, the launch of the transatlantic slave trade, and the introduction of a swath of lethal diseases to an unprepared continent.”

Comparing the statues of Columbus vandalized the other day on Washington’s National Mall to the many torn down Confederate monuments, “so too are schools, towns, and even whole states grappling with “Columbus Day.” Many are deciding to rename and refocus the holiday, choosing to call it Indigenous Peoples' Day to honor the people whose lives and cultures were irreparably damaged by the colonial conquest that the age of exploration ushered into being.”

Harvard solicited Eric Shed, a veteran history teacher who now directs the Harvard Teacher Fellows Program, to share perspectives on the changing currents around Columbus Day – and this is what he told the Ivies...

Trends are really hard to detect in a country as divided as ours, but I’ve noticed two developments in my work teaching high school and teaching at Harvard.

1. There’s definitely a trend toward questioning Columbus Day.

2. We need students to understand that Columbus is important, even if he isn’t someone to be celebrated, and

3. He initiated a turning point in our history.

Discoursing on “dominant narratives” which speak about heroes in a simple sense; counternarratives can be much more critical and can engage students “who might feel otherwise unrepresented in a history class, such as females and students of color.”

“Based on my experience, I think it’s vitally essential that teachers engage kids as young as sixth grade in questions that really interrogate Columbus. Students need to grapple with these multiple perspectives in history and the not-so-pleasant aspects of our past.”

Suggesting various ways in which students, beginning in the sixth grade, can express their loathing of Columbus and all he stands for, Mr. Shed recommends they be taught to write letters to officials, rewrite bad textbook passages, examine Columbus’s "discovery" of America from the perspective of an indigenous person, “or should we engage in some sort of reconciliation work?”

Like, perhaps, giving away the family wealth and property to the oppressed and go off to live in tents... shabby and uncomfortable tents, not the nice domiciles portrayed in Western movies.

He references...

James Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me, and his shorter Lies My Teacher Told Me about Christopher Columbus, and

Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, which includes “horrific, detailed eyewitness accounts of how the Spanish explorers treated the Native Americans.”

“I think there is a ton of potential in celebrating an Indigenous Peoples' Day,” he concludes, but... further... “what that is, what it looks like — we need to start with asking indigenous folks to define it.”

In other words, shut up Whitey.

Three years after, the Harvard Gazette updated the Shed by reporting on Boston’s Mayor Martin Walsh announcement that a damaged status of Christopher Columbus would not return to its original location in the area’s waterfront park and author Liz Mineo interviewed several experts on the topic to glean their perspectives on the topic.

These included...

Megan Hill – Citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin; Program Director, Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development

“For Native people in the U.S., Columbus Day represents a celebration of genocide and dispossession. The irony is that Columbus didn’t discover anything. Not only was he lost, thinking he had landed in India, but there is significant evidence of trans-oceanic contact prior to 1492 (i.e. the Vikings). The day celebrates a fictionalized and sanitized version of colonialism, whitewashing generations of brutality that many Europeans brought to these shores.” See more in ATTACHMENT X13 – as also...

Joseph P. Gone, Ph.D. ’92 – Professor of Anthropology and of Global Health and Social Medicine and Faculty Director, Harvard University Native American Program

“Recent responses to police shootings and killings of unarmed Black people in the U.S. have forced a national reckoning over America’s monstrous racial legacy... (i)n this light, public observance of Columbus Day must end. For this nation’s over 5 million American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian citizens, Columbus’ voyages to the so-called New World inaugurated a long history of exploitation, enslavement, eradication, and erasure (and he himself initiated and sanctioned such actions).

“Thus, to commemorate Columbus is to commemorate European colonization of Indigenous peoples... (t)he time of reckoning is at hand. Let us demonstrate together our collective solidarity with Indigenous peoples by abandoning public commemoration of Columbus in exchange for celebrating Indigenous survivance.”

Jaidyn Probst ’23 – Lower Sioux Indian Community

“There should be no reason to celebrate a man who only brought disease, genocide, and various assault to Native communities. He shouldn’t be a figure who is upheld in modern society. Quite frankly, he discovered nothing, so what is there to celebrate? America can best replace this day by acknowledging it universally as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”

Robert Anderson – Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe; Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School

“It’s time for Columbus Day to go away and be replaced by Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a national holiday. That shift would require people to think about the fact that this country was founded on taking over territory that belonged to the Indigenous peoples who are still here and whose ancestors lived here for thousands of years and had their own societies, their own culture, and their own political institutions.”

Mr. Anderson also says we have to “respect the fact that modern-day Indian tribes in the United States are governments” which may not go over well with not only the guilty liberals, but libertarians, conservatives and centrists, none of whom... most polls agree... love or even like (or even tolerates) anybody associated with the gumment.

Anna Kate Cannon ’21 – Co-president of Natives at Harvard College

“As a co-president of Natives at Harvard College, I’d like to see the University recognize solely Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of celebrating both Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day...

“Many people know that Columbus never actually set foot in the U.S. Even celebrating Columbus as the one who discovered America is completely false... (w)e’re taught very early, in elementary school, that America’s claim to this continent’s land was entirely legitimate, and that the people who were here were not “civilized” and their societies were not “advanced enough.” This is part of the myth of America, the idea that the settlers deserved this land.”

Joseph R. Zordan ’26 – Bad River Ojibwe
Ph.D. Student in History of Art and Architecture

“The specter of Columbus will not be exorcised so easily from the land... (b)ut that doesn’t make the move to rename this day Indigenous Peoples’ Day meaningless.”

The Harvard boys (and bad girls) protesting Columbus Day have found an ally in the Smithsonian Institute which... almost six years ago... reiterated many of the Harvard complaints: the explorer was beaten to North America (not, however, America proper) by the Vikings, who were also preceded by Indigenous Peoples, and that “in the 130 years following first contact, Native America lost 95 percent of its population.”

The Smithsonian also pointed the finger of guilt at “the Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, and English,” who “encroached upon” and enslaved the Indigenous People – who continue to resist and work to replace Columbus Day “in their school, city, state, and beyond.”

Another Institution, this christened for the Bill of Rights polled the public and found that two thirds of Americans wanted the name change.

“Supporters view the day as a celebration of exploration, historical achievement, and Italian American heritage. However, critics argue that Columbus’ arrival also marked the beginning of colonization, violence, and suffering for Indigenous peoples.” (ATTACHMENT X15)

They ask readers to vote on the issue of whather Columbus day should or should not be celebrated. Prizes will be offered to the best responses!

So far, Peanuts from the Bill of Rights Gallery have divided with supporters of Columbus celebrating the beginnings of worldwide contact, farming and technology.

Opponents returned to arguments that discovery led to centuries of oppression, that Columbus was “a bad man” who treated natives despicably, and a horrible person who committed horrible acts.

Some also said America should, instead, celebrate the Vikings.

A 2023 USA Today opiner (ATTACHMENT X16) Interviewed Reynaldo Morales, Peruvian Quechua assistant professor at Northwestern University who alleges that not only the United States but all North and South Americans should consider Columbus Day “insensitive” because the explorer has been “compared to Hitler.”

Some of his atrocities compiled by Philadelphia Magazine included cutting off the hands of 10,000 Haitians and Dominicans for not producing enough gold, cutting off noses and ears and legs of native children and promoting pedophilia.

Columbus used (Pope Alexander’s) Doctrine of Discovery to assert that the lands could be claimed because they were not already ruled by Christians even though Native Americans lived on the continent(s) for 15,500 years before the half millennium of occupation, colonization and atrocities.

The conservative National Review, however, charged that “(t) The great Genoese explorer was not a perfect man, but his legacy has been unfairly tarnished by his revisionist critics.

‛Let those who are fond of blaming and finding fault, while they sit safely at home, ask, ‘Why did you not do thus and so?’” wrote Christopher Columbus in his Lettera Rarissima (available only in French or Italian).

“With no education beyond years of private study of Marco Polo’s cartographic tomes,” contended John Hirschauer (Oct. 14, 2019: ATTACHMENT X21) “the great Genoese explorer set sail for the New World, to which he would bring a devout Catholic faith and respect, if checkered in its breadth, for those encountered in the Indies.”

His behavior in Santo Domingo (above) was “markedly aberrant” in that Columbus was a devout Catholic who mandated shipwide prayers every half hour on his journies, adopted a Native American boy and “took well-noted pains to treat the Native peoples with basic dignity even as many of his contemporaries couldn’t be bothered,” and remains an icon to many Catholics, who admire his devotion to and propagation of the faith

Instead, Hirschauer blames Francisco Roldán, who staged a revolt against the rule of Columbus’s brother, Bartholomew, and Francisco de Bobadilla, whose salacious and uncorroborated allegations against Columbus would create the corpus of the modern revisionist’s attack on the explorer’s character.

Hirschauer also reports on “indigenous” atrocities like those of the Kalinago people, who ate roasted human flesh (with a particular affinity for the remains of babies and fetuses?) or the paleo-Trumpish Aztecs, “who killed an estimated 84,000 people in four days in their consecration of the (egotistic) Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan?” and quotes Morison’s celebration of “his indomitable will, his superb faith in God and in his own mission.” That will and faith, Hirschauer concludes, makes him “a man worthy of this, the day on which we honor him.”

History.com (2010, Updated 9/2/26: ATTACHMENT X61) reported that controversy over Columbus Day dates back to the 19th century, when anti-immigrant groups in the United States rejected the holiday because of its association with Catholicism.

In recent decades, Native Americans and other groups have protested the celebration of an event that resulted in the colonization of the Americas, the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade and the deaths of millions from murder, starvation and disease.

European settlers brought a host of infectious diseases, including smallpox and influenza that decimated Indigenous populations. Warfare between Native Americans and European colonists claimed many lives as well.

The “real reason” why America celebrates Columbus Day, accused Noé López in the Los Angeles Time (Oct. 9, 2023: ATTACHMENT X17) is “a desperate need for Americans to feel European” as opposed to the dirty Mexicans, Africans or Asians.

Takeaways appended to the Times report included 8/15/23 remembrances from colonial Mexico upon Spanish imperialism wherein “Mixtec noblemen and noblewomen in colonial Oaxaca refused to be inferior to the Spanish and claimed their dynasties through marriage allegiances well into the independence of Mexico. They refused to be the “Indians” Columbus claimed to have discovered. They spoke Mixtec and Spanish fluently alongside Latin, dressed in Spanish fashions, constructed palaces and kept Mixtec hieroglyphs as proof of their nobility. But people do not teach that in school today.”

An Ecuadorean man asked why Latin America has corrupt governments replied: “Corruption came from Spain. The Europeans brought it.”

Another voice (10/4/23) recalls that European expansion in America “also influenced the transatlantic slave trade” and Columbus, with his fellow Conquistadores, destroyed the superior cultures of Mexico and points south.

The Mayans “were exploring the universe with their own observatories long before Columbus arrived. Columbus was looking for India, yet the Mayans were looking for the planet Venus. They modeled their architecture and reinforced their government emulating the cosmos. So why not celebrate the Mayan astronomers who found Venus? Why not celebrate the Mayan kings who used astronomy and engineering to shape politics in their kingdoms?”

Columbus Day has become the residue of white supremacy, Lopez concludes. “It is the justification of genocide. It is the justification of imperialism. It is the justification of slavery and the justification of Indigenous people’s so-called inferiority to Europeans.”

In many Latin American nations, the anniversary of Columbus’ landing has traditionally been observed as the Dìa de la Raza (“Day of the Race”), a celebration of Hispanic culture’s diverse roots. In 2002, Venezuela renamed the holiday Dìa de la Resistencia Indìgena (“Day of Indigenous Resistance”) to recognize native peoples and their experience.

National Review’s defense of Columbus and his voyages (October 14, 2019) acknowledged that the great Genoese explorer was not a perfect man, but his legacy has been unfairly tarnished by his revisionist critics wrote Buckley Boy John Hirschauer (October 14, 2019, ATTACHMENT x21)

Hirschauer contends that the depiction of Columbus as a cruel and violent native hunter derives from only one example of “errant moral judgment”... the exploitation of Native labor he sanctioned in Santo Domingo. “It was markedly aberrant behavior from Columbus, who took well-noted pains to treat the Native peoples with basic dignity even as many of his contemporaries couldn’t be bothered.”

These contemporaries, Hirschauer fingers, were to blame for the evil reputation of Columbus, the explorers and their descendents – indeed all of America today. They were Francisco Roldán, who had staged a revolt against the rule of Columbus’s brother, Bartholomew and Columbus’s successor as governor of the West Indies: Francisco de Bobadilla, “whose salacious and uncorroborated allegations against Columbus would create the corpus of the modern revisionist’s attack on the explorer’s character.”

Columbus, in spite of his many faults, was a man of character who “famously adopted a Native American boy and urged his fellow voyagers to exercise restraint and mercy toward the Natives, even, for instance, after they had burned down an entire Spanish settlement and killed all of the Spaniards in the area... (h)is devout Catholicism informed his treatment of his fellow sailors, whom he enjoined in shipwide prayer every half-hour on the long journey from Spain to the New World.”

Hirschauer also contends that, “while it might be true that some such cultures fit the nomadic, tranquil image pushed by the revisionists, not even close to all of them did.” Columbus deemed himself “a Captain who went from Spain to the Indies to conquer a numerous and warlike people, whose customs and religion are very contrary to ours; who live in rocks and mountains, without fixed settlements,” and the National Review reminds us that some of those “indigenous people” glorified by its enemy, the liberals, were cannibals like the Kalinagos who ate roasted human flesh, with a particular affinity for the remains of babies and fetuses? Or, perhaps making an unintentional comparison to a far later creator of monuments to Himself, the NR noted that the Aztecs “killed an estimated 84,000 people in four days in their consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan?”

The award-winning historian Samuel Eliot Morison, in his book The Great Explorers, translates Columbus’s parting shot into modern parlance: “In other words, to hell with them!”

As Morison pointed out, Columbus “had his flaws and his defects, but they were largely the defects of the qualities that made him great — his indomitable will, his superb faith in God and in his own mission.” That will and faith, the Nat. Review concluded, make him a man worthy of this, the day on which we honor him.

The historians at History.com published (Jan. 4, 2010) and then updated (Sep. 2, 2026) a directory of Columbus, his life and his Day which many call “a way of both honoring Columbus’ achievements and celebrating Italian-American heritage” while noting that others, who argue for replacement by an “Indigenous People’s Day”, cite the colonization of the Americas, as birthed the transatlantic slave trade and decimated Indigenous populations through “murder, starvation and disease,” like the infectious European imports: smallpox and influenza. “Warfare between Native Americans and European colonists claimed many lives as well.”

South of the (American) border, many Latin American countries call October 12 by names other than Columbus Day; some patriotic, some aggressive and some weak and woke. (ATTACHMENT X41)

New Names by Country

· Argentina: Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity

· Venezuela & Guatemala: Indigenous Resistance Day

· Bolivia: Day of Decolonisation

· Costa Rica: Day of Cultures

· Ecuador: Day of Interculturality and Multinationality

· Nicaragua: Day of Indigenous, Black and Popular Resistance

· Peru: Day of the Indigenous Peoples and Intercultural Dialogue [1]

In Mexico, Columbus Day has, over the last 30 years, become a topic of dispute between those who still defend the traditional view of discovery by Christopher Columbus and a growing number who reject it.

“Controversy surrounds everything, from the name given to the day itself to the events and activities held to observe it. Known variously as Race Day, Day of Hispanic Heritage, of the Indigenous Resistance, of the Discovery of America, of Respect for Cultural Diversity, of Decolonization, of Liberation, of Interculturality, of the Meeting of Two Worlds, as Pan-American Day and as National Day (as above), October 12 marks the moment when Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Guanahaní (later renamed San Salvador) when he glimpsed the Antilles.” (El Pais in English, Oct. 12, 2023: ATTACHMENT X42)

Recapitulating the history of his voyages, as above, reporter Julieta Sanguino interviewed advocates and academics such as Sofía Reding Blase, a researcher at the Research Center on Latin America and the Caribbean (CIALC) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico said that, although Columbus arrived in the Caribbean on his first voyage and only on the last one did he reach the shore of the mainland, “he never realized it or at least he never admitted to having reached territories that were not Asian.”

The historian Federico Navarrete, who rejects the “uselessness” of traditional tales taught in Mexican schools, said that the teaching of this day in public education in Mexico is based on picturesque anecdotes. “I remember that as a child they made me learn the name of the three caravels. It is picturesque, but it is completely useless because Columbus did not even know that he had arrived in America, he died convinced that he was in Asia.”

He adds that the real story of Columbus’s discovery should also include the darker side of his personality, the voyage, and his companions. Navarrete notes, for example, that with him also came many Arabs and Jews whose existence has been erased from historical records. He also underscores that Columbus’ zeal was not only aimed at reaching the Indies but also capturing the natives. “They should tell us about all the slaves that Columbus captured from the first day he was in America. On the same October 12 that he landed on the island of Guanahaní, he himself tells us that he took an indigenous slave and took him against his will on his ship. In addition to learning about the boat, we should learn about the people who were enslaved on that boat,” he adds.

In 1992, during the event’s 500th anniversary, questions were asked out loud and the concept of “discovery” began to fall apart – Miguel León Portilla writing: “Why is it said that Columbus discovered America? Hadn’t the indigenous people themselves discovered it long before and, over millennia, populated it and created cultures such as the Teotihuacan, the Mayan, the Mexica, the Inca? How is it possible to talk about discovery if Columbus was never aware of what the lands he arrived at were?”

Some even advocate a return to, or at least reassessment of pre-Colombian beliefs in the Americans. Christianity itself “has begun to be seen as an imposition in the face of the destruction of local beliefs.”

Navarrete said that there are many more reasons to protest than there are reasons to continue maintaining a vision of history that is racist, that privileges whites and subordinates indigenous people. Like Columbus protesters in the United States, he maintains “(t)his narrative only benefits Spain, which claims to be the heir of those discoverers, and the white elites of Latin American countries who continue to believe themselves superior to the rest of the population.”

In some parts of the United States, words have been followed by action – sometimes official acts of state and local gumments (often in defiance of Trump and traditionalists), sometimes independent engagements between largely leftish “virtuous vandals” and the monuments left to them by the past.

These so-called statue wars have a long tradition... both American and globally (revolutions from 1776 to the French, Mexican, Russian, Iranian, Iraqi and many more) have always been marked by removal of and replacement of physical monuments. Since the start of the 21^st century, memorials to the American Confederacy have been particularly impacted, so it should not come as much of a surprise that re-evaluation of history should include testimonials in steel and stone.

Anonymous vandals, seven years ago, honored Columbus in their own way in California and Rhode Island by painting his likenesses red. (ABC, October 14, ATTACHMENT A74)

A sign that read "Stop celebrating genocide" was placed at the foot of the Columbus statue, located in the Elmwood neighborhood of Providence, ABC Providence affiliate WLNE reported. The statue was covered with red paint.

In San Francisco, a Columbus statue near Coit Tower was also sprayed with red paint. Graffiti at the bottom read, "Destroy all monuments of genocide and kill all colonizers (which is to say, all white people)."

Columbus Day 2020 saw protesters in the streets of Portland, Oregon tearing down statues of Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln and some protesters smashed windows at the Oregon Historical Society. (Newsweek, Oct. 12, 2020)

A bronze statue of Teddy Roosevelt officially titled "Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider," was torn down.

Some took a blowtorch to its base and splattered it with red paint, while others pulled with ropes until the statue fell at 8:51 p.m., Oregon Live reports.

Just one block away, the group descended on the Abraham Lincoln statue in Portland's South Park Block, pulling it to the ground just before 9.p.m.

Spray-painted on the base of the statue were the words "Dakota 38," a reference to the 38 Dakota men executed after the Dakota-U.S. War of 1862, the largest mass execution in a single day in U.S. history.

The crowd then continued to the Oregon Historical Society, with some protesters smashing windows and storefronts and unfurling a banner that read, "Stop honoring racist colonizer murderers."

A mural on the attached Sovereign Hotel building depicting the Lewis & Clark expedition was also splattered with red paint.

"We are calling for autonomous, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-fascist actions," the Indigenous People's Day official website states.

"We will take the streets and we will take the waters and the forests. We will intervene in settler and resource colonial violence. We will defend our communities."

Historic statues of Confederate and other prominent leaders have been targeted and toppled.

Protesters took to Portland streets in June to tear down a statue of George Washington, placing a sticker on the head of the statue that read "You are on Native land."

The same month a group of protesters pulled down a statue of Thomas Jefferson.

Both former presidents owned slaves during their lifetimes.

Posting on Facebook (July 25,2024: ATTACHMENT X75), the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) reported on the strange alliance between Native Americans and Islamic terrorists after a group of protesters, “aligned with pro-Hamas sentiments, defaced the statue of Christopher Columbus and burned an American flag” at Columbus Plaza near Union Station in Washington, D.C.

NIAF President Robert Allegrini stated, "We are deeply disturbed by these destructive acts. The defacement of the Columbus statue and the burning of the American flag are not forms of protected speech but acts of vandalism that undermine civil discourse and mutual respect in our diverse society.

Dan Onofrio of Bridgeport, CT is leading efforts to have the Columbus statue... removed from Seaside Park in 2020... restored and honored.

For eight years, Onofrio has had the high profile job of running the Bridgeport Regional Business Council. (CT post, ATTACHMENT X73, Aut. 17, 2026) But, he emphasized, his efforts around facilitating a statue resolution are about his heritage. He is grand marshal of the 2026 Columbus Day Parade and past president of Connecticut’s chapter of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America.

In July 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, then-Mayor Joe Ganim abruptly ordered Bridgeport’s Columbus placed into storage.

The bronze likeness had been donated to the city in the mid-1960s by the local Italian community. The Ganim administration claimed the mayor had exercised temporary emergency powers to avoid unspecified vandalism and that constant policing was impractical. Around that same time a similar statue in Waterbury was beheaded.

After years of dispute, Parks Commission Chairman John Hosier issued a stern letter emphasizing that nothing can be done at Seaside without his group’s authorization. He added that the board “intends to reevaluate this matter at a future date through its established public process.”

“I’m not open to that,” Shoran Piper, clan mother tribal head leader of the Golden Hill Paugussett, said when asked about the possible return of the navigator’s bronze likeness. While willing to participate in discussions on the matter and how best to honor Italian and Native Americans at Seaside, Piper emphasized when it comes to Columbus, “I think it’s just time to move on.”

“The statue was there a very long time,” she said. “It came down. It’s time to keep it down and put something up anew.”

Onofrio argues there has to be a way to recognize Columbus remains an important figure in the Italian-American community, representing immigration and opportunity, and that in general “history is complex” and should be acknowledged, not ignored.

He pointed out how iconic 19th century showman and former Bridgeport Mayor P.T. Barnum has a bronze statue at Seaside Park, a downtown museum, and is celebrated locally with an annual months-long festival. And yet Barnum, by modern standards, did not lead a blemish-free life. He reportedly was known to have brought an enslaved Black woman on tour and also presented people from different countries as “living curiosities.”

“We are a land of immigrants and we should find a way to recognize and respect all cultures and traditions, whether we agree with them or not,” Onofrio said. “That’s what makes America so great.”

So, six years after the Columbus monument in Frederick Md was torn down by rioters and tossed in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the White House restored a 13-foot statue of Christopher Columbus. Trump spokesperson David Ingle told Fox News that: “As we celebrate our Nation’s 250th anniversary of independence, the White House is proud to honor Christopher Columbus’s legendary life and legacy with a well-deserved statue on the White House grounds.” (Fox/WFMD, ATTACHMENT X71)

Rebuilt in part from salvaged pieces, the statue was installed at the White House on Sunday after Baltimore officials declined to restore it to the city’s Little Italy neighborhood, according to COPOMIAO, which is a national coalition of Italian American groups that advocate for their communities.

President Donald Trump sent a letter thanking COPOMIAO President Basil M. Russo for the statue. He said the tall figure was placed next to another piece of art called Freedom’s Charge, which he said is “a life-size sculpture representing the revolutionary struggle to win America’s independence.”

“Christopher Columbus was the original American hero and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the Earth,” Trump said. “Guided by steadfast prayer and unwavering fortitude and resolve, Columbus’ voyage in 1492 carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas—paving the way for the ultimate triumph of Western civilization less than three centuries later on July 4, 1776.”

“Columbus statues have long stood as symbols of pride and cultural identity for more than 18 million Americans of Italian descent,” Russo said. “For over a century, Columbus’s legacy helped Italian immigrants navigate prejudice and hardship, serving as a source of unity and belonging as they built new lives in this country. Columbus Day itself emerged in the aftermath of the 1891 New Orleans lynching, when 11 Italian immigrants were killed by a mob of thousands, an event that prompted a national effort to promote the acceptance and assimilation of Italian Americans. This history remains central to why these monuments matter.”

“President Trump has rightly hailed Christopher Columbus as ‘the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the Earth,'” he said. “In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero, and President Trump will ensure he’s honored as such for generations to come.”

And so... rightly or wrongly... millions of Americans will be celebrating Columbus Day on Monday.

In Chicago, a Grand Parade will occur from noon until two in the afternoon; schools, government offices, libraries and the postal service will be closed as the Grand Marshals (Lou Gramm, the original voice of "Foreigner"; actor and television personality Tony Danza; and Cristiana Dell'Anna, the star of the film "Cabrini") lead the procession down Dearborn Street and Wacker Drive in the Loop. (ABC, October 7^th, ATTACHMENT X63)

There’s a catch, however... Chicago Public Schools recognize Monday as Indigenous Peoples' Day and the City, playing both sides, will recognize both sides on the same day.

President Trump’s Proclamation for 2026, however, recognizes only the Genoan – with a modest swipe at the Indians, Native Americans or Indigenous, howsoever you term them.

“Today, we reaffirm that Christopher Columbus is a legend whose vision, fortitude, and perseverance unleashed a dynamic of history that led to the creation of the greatest, freest, and most just Nation in history. We are forever indebted to his courageous voyage, and we will never allow his legacy to be erased by radical extremists. For this reason, earlier this year, I was proud to install a statue of Christopher Columbus on the White House grounds — an exact replica of the statue that stood for more than three decades in Baltimore, Maryland, from its dedication by President Ronald Reagan in October 1984 until rioters tore it down and threw it into Baltimore Harbor on July 4, 2020. Now placed at the White House, this magnificent monument stands as a testament to the resilient legacy of one of history’s greatest heroes.”

He cites Pope Leo XIII who, in 1892 on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ epic voyage, published an encyclical hailing “the greatness of his mind and heart,” which “can be compared to but few in the history of humanity.”

Pope Leo XIV has not issued a new encyclical specifically for Columbus Day 2026, though historical context and his strong ties to the Knights of Columbus connect his pontificate with the organization.

IN the NEWS: OCTOBER 2^ND to OCTOBER 9^TH, 2026

Friday, October 2, 2026

Dow: 51,196.76

It’s World Dementia week and, also, National Shelter Dog week.

And it’s also the biggest mortgage rate increase in four years to 7.28%. up 1% in a year. Chinese fuel export ban raises prices up another 4% while a paltry jobs report boosts unemployment up to 4.2%. With diesel prices rusting the supply chain, President Trump orders France and Germany to release their hoards or face sanctions; they submit and we also intercept tankers full of Iranian oil bound for Cuba.

Another week of wild weather begins with flooding in drought-ridden Texas moving eastward across the Gulf of America. Extreme heat in California persists; 102° in L.A. as the Nor’easter finally departs the Northeast. Iconi Hawaiian stone arch collapses as Nolo winds and rain hang on.

NY Gov. Hochul appoints celebrity Trump prosecutor Letitia James to take over the Cornell frat rape case after previous DA imposed “stiff” penalties on seven boys, including orders to write essays about incident. In other gumment/legal scuffles, more fratboys arrested in Ole Miss kratom killings, family of murdered ICE protester Renee Good sues President Trump, not guilty plea from child killer Lindsay Clancey denied as the mobs hunt holdout black juror, lawyers for Christa Pike want death penalty overturned after two botched executions while Tennessee’s corrections commissioner resigns in disgrace and vengeful victims’ family says “do it again!”. Headed to trial are drunk driver Tony Romo, fired from CBS while 49ers owner Jed York is merely suspended due to prostitution sting; Sergio Mangione interrogation video goes viral.

Saturday, October 3, 2026

Dow: Closed

It’s the thirty-third anniversary of the Battle of Mogadishu, and jihadists are still jumping. Terror in the skies continues as authorities reveal Air Dubai wannabee hijacker had previously been fired from Oman Air for his extremist views.

Happy Days for Team Trump as the President tours deep red states to adoring crowds, but support from independents wearing purple is eroding. In Ohio, he predicts “a 129-style depression” if the donkeys flip the House or Senate, red state races becoming competitive in Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa while James Talarico (who Potus accuses of vegan effeminacy) takes 6 point lead over unpleasant Repub. Paxton.

October disease on the march with a banner flu season expected with the first deaths already coming in and anti-vaxxing sentiment continues. Ebola deaths in Africa top 4,000 as angry Congolese burn down a treatment center, Legionnaires’ disease, old favorites like AIDS and Covid and lettuce can’t catch a break as the FDA now blames Cyclo on the green stuff. Doctors advise: “Eat meat!”

Sunday, October 4, 2026

Dow: Closed

It’s Talkshow Sunday and ABC pundit Stephanopoulos asks us to remember the red wave after Slick Willie Clinton refused to shut up; asks is Trump repeating this blunder with his egomercials paid for by the taxpayers with $3.5 M diverted from homeland security?

The Roundtablers tackle the midterms with liberal Donna Brazile saying they’ll be decided by turnout as ‘Pubs have spent $11B in mostly disgusting negative ads so far,” twice that of Dems; RINO Chris Christie adds Alaska and Maine to the endangered list and agrees with Steph after Trump insults Ohio voters while Michelle Cottle of the NY Times says even New Hampshire Sununu dynasty’s at risk. Republican strategist Doug Heye also says that even the deep red state candidates are worried but afraid of being primaried in ’28 if they speak up. “We’ll win,” he predicts, saying it’ll come down to “what things cost”, but “not by much.”

Afrwe Hochul’s fired DA Van Houten claimes the Cornell rapes were “morally disturbing but not a crime” and Pres. Kotlikoff waffles on the intricacies of moral evil versus legal crime, the RT returns.

Liberal Brazile says “Jane Doe” was filed by police, prosecutors and Cornell while Christie replies that NY state law protected the fratboys in that forced sex with intoxicated women is legal so the law itself has to be changed by the Legislature. Heye predicts more universities will sanction the frats and fratboys (citing hazing deaths and criminality at other colleges), Cottle blames the fundamental disrespect for women among all men who glory in “thuggish masculinity,”

“Face the Nation” spotlights the e-con-me as EnSec Chris Wright blames Cal, Gov, Newsome for closing California refineries and cite the WSJournal prediction of an Iranian “October surprise” but “we are working on different ways to slice that cat.”

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Az) says people are fed up with Washington. “Trump is the most corrupt President in history” while attributing Hegseth’s military purges to race and sex. He’s “the most unqualified DefSec in history”, Kelly says, disdaining his preferred title Secretary of War.

At least the real war is finding more tankers busting through Iranian defenses of Hormuz despite menacing language from Tehran and even more menacing threats from POTUS... gas prices drop from $4.47 to $4.36 (but some of that attributed to states reducing or killing off their gas taxes). Diesel remains dear.

Monday, October 5, 2026

Dow: 51,267.90

Early voting begins in several state; Repubs tell Ohio voters that rejecting AI data centers will send them to China. A consultant insists voters who are undecided are so because they dislike all candidates. ‘Pubs emphasize culture wars and trannie hate but red ag states resist ICE due to need for cheap labor.

Polls show immigration as dominant issue down 20% to 13% but threats to democracy more important after Trump tells Missourians to pretend he’s on the ballot. On the AI issues, legislators ponder whether machines have souls. Pope Leo answers “No!”

WarSec Hegseck pulls bombers from UK bases after five suspected terrorists are arrested in bombing plot – but they’re bailed out!

Monday’s box office result show Avengers Endgame has made $290B but Tom Cruise in “Digger” flops.

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Dow: 51,521.20

Pneumonic plague in Russia raises question of biowar development; Kremlin denies modern outbreak of the Black Death. WHO says outbreak risk is low and Russia just blames “a pneumonia of unknown cause.” The world takes protective measures. “We know, from Russian history, that they might be lying” says Dr. Ashish Jah. Trump says America will “help” in fighting the pnsumonic plague, which some call more dangerous than bubonic because it is spread by air droplet, not rats. U.S. SecState Marco is preparing a “formal complaint”. Wow!

POTUS says Iran should “take out” the left wingers in Los Angeles and San Diego. CalGov Newsome, mindful of 2028, calls him “deranged” so, under pressure, Trump signs an EO that lowers the priceof diesel and will stop making taxpayers pay for his grim commercials.

At Cornell, fratboys “scramble” to contain the damage to the frats, but not the University. Mister Lee, one of the two suspended rapeboys first apologizes, then threatens “Jane Doe”. Campus protests spark violence and vandalism.

Latenite comedians are back: Kimmel says that Trump and Hegseck’s EpFiles were fireworks, their plan to allegedly let Iran bomb L.A. and San Diego a full-fledged fire. On the campaign, Trump preens as the voters call him “Goat” and he says they’re right – he’s better than Washington and Lincoln.

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Dow: 51,179.87

It’s the third anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel. Jewish anger at PM Netanyahu as it is revealed that ignored warnings from Egypt and UAE before the attack, he responds that critics “smear” him.

Trump says that he will call Putin about the plague “very soon” as SecState Marco upgrades his warning of his complaint to the U.N. now demands “compliance” – effectively calling Bad Vlad a liar. He also muses that if America has to be attacked – presumably by Iraniacs and not his BFF Putin – it would not be such a loss if L.A. or San Diego in liberal Newsome’s California were obliterated. Reactions are predictable.

Skydance – run by Larry Ellison, the most evil person in America, completes his takeover of Paramount... gaining sovereignty over CBS (already almost as Trumpy as Fox under Bari Weiss), CNN and much much more. He vows to fire thousands – and you can guess the leanings of those – and get ready for programming that blesses the billionaires and derides the stupid proles while throwing some the sock puppet of racism to keep them watching and buying.

The American sheeple sleep well but in France, the high school students are revolting... and in favor of their teachers, whom they claim are underpaid! (They are also protesting shoddy schools which are full of “rats and leaks”. Macron sends out the riot police to beat and shoot and lock them up, causing the university students and labor unions to join in the insurrection and opportunists on the left and right look forward to the next elections – unless the mob and guillotine come first.

Next door in Germany, a noted spymaster is exposed and arrested for treason. It’s an insecure week for security, as a man, a fuckin’ CIA man scams the gumment out of 200M in cash, gold and real estate he took by saying it was to pay off enemy informants. Instead, he used it for a life of luxury. Spooky!

Thursday, October 8, 2026

Dow: 51,258.95

Teenage ISIS wannabee lone wolf foiled in his plot to shoot up the National Mall in Minneapolis. The FBI arrests him trying to buy an assault rifle from an undercover agent.

Second Russian lab worker dies of the plague as a whistleblower cites a curiously symmetrical anti-vaxxing and anti-masking macho in Irkutsk as the regime continues to stall and lie. The media discover American author Annie Jacobsen who predicted exactly the same in her novel “Biological War” which suddenly becomes a best seller.

In San Antonio, President Trump asks voters to “pretend” He is on the ballot, causing trailing candidate Ken Paxton to shit his pants. After a protester boos, security hauls him out and POTUS tells him that his mother will kick his ass because She voted for ME!

In other sports, media and infotainment news, the DJI week concludes with the MLB division playoffs to feature the Dodgers v. Brewers in the American and the Guardians or White Sox will face the Rays (who eject the Yankees when a home run is called back after being touched by a fan, now running for his life). Taylor’s “Patient Zero” is #1 (her 16^th: third behind onlyMariah Carey and the Beatles while Tom Cruse’s “Digger” digs a grave as a full blown flop. The romthriller “Verity” is box office leader while Avengers Endgame tops $290B worldwide gross (still less than a third of Elon Musk’s pelf, back over a tril due to Space X gains).

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 341.41 points, or 0.66%, to close at 51,179.87 on Wednesday. The decline came as surging Treasury yields spooked investors, pulling major indexes back from recent records. [1, 2] Major indexes were headed for weekly gains Friday despite some volatile action earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gathered steam, rising to session highs in afternoon trade. In stocks, SpaceX (SPCX) slammed telecom bellwether Verizon (VZ). And energy names Okeanis Eco Tankers (ECO) and International Seaways (INSW) hit new highs.

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

Gains in indices as improved are noted in GREEN. Negative/harmful indices in RED as are their designation. (Note – some of the indices where the total went up created a realm where their value went down... and vice versa.) See a further explanation of categories HERE

ECONOMIC INDICES (60%) THE WEEK’S CLOSING STATS...

CATEGORY

VALUE

BASE

LAST

CHANGE

NEXT

VALUE (ORIG.)**

CHANGE (to JAN – JUNE 2026) from 100%

JULY 17

Reconfigured

SEP. 25th

LAST WEEK

THIS WEEK

OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS

INCOME

(24%)

6/17/13*

% UP – DOWN

Wages (hrly. Per cap)

1350

10/2/26

+0.159%

10/26

1,909.78

70.89%

1,353.92

1,357.88

1,360.04

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/average-hourly-earnings 37.81

Median Inc. (yearly)

600

10/2/26

+0.101%

10/16/26

1,474.31

40.75%

600.80

601.46

603.43

603.77

604.38

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 68,460

Unempl. (BLS – in mi)

600

10/2/26

-2.38%

10/26

555.52

614.28

629.26

614.28

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/ 4.2

Official (DC – in mi)

300

10/2/26

-0.17%

10/16/26

216.73

299.92

309.27

319.27

312.98

313.52

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 6,993

Unofficl. (DC – in mi)

300

10/2/26

-0.11%

10/16/26

259.80

299.62

284.26

283.78

301.63

301.97

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 13,197

Workforce Participation

Number

Percent

300

10/2/26

-0.014%

-0.037%

10/16/26

295.81

299.98

298.74

297.66

297.88

297.77

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ In 162,678 Out 106,898 Total: 269,576

60.346

WP % (ycharts)*

150

10/2/26

-0.163%

10/26

149.25

149.27

149.03

https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 61.40

OUTGO

(15%)

Total Inflation

1050

10/2/26

+0.4%

8/26

901.77

1050

1052.10

1046.85

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +.4

Food

300

10/2/26

+0.1%

8/26

257.37

300

299.40

298.89

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +.1

Gasoline

300

10/2/26

+3.9%

8/26

181.96

300

320.10

316.53

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +3.9

Medical Costs

300

10/2/26

-0.2%

8/26

267.14

300

300.30

299.10

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm -0.2

Shelter

300

10/2/26

+0.3%

8/26

238.38

300

299.70

298.50

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.3

WEALTH

(6%)

Dow Jones Index

300

10/2/26

+0.65%

10/16/26

400.18

299.80

295.37

294.54

292.64

294.55

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/ 51,258.95

Home (Sales)

(Valuation)

150

10/2/26

-1.97%

-0.53%

10/16/26

137.08

155.60

154.17

152.61

158.23

147.42

150.88

147.42

150.88

147.42

150.88

https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics

Sales (M): 3.98 Valuations (K): 429.1

Millionaires (New Cat,)

150

10/2/26

+0.106%

10/16/26

137.72

150.15

150.32

160.04

160.13

160.30

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 24,508

Paupers (New Category)

150

10/2/26

+0.014%

10/16/26

134.69

149.92

149.82

145.40

145.47

145.27

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 37,116

GOVERNMENT

(10%)

Revenue (trilns.)

300

10/2/26

-0.141%

10/16/26

485.69

300.85

301.77

303.34

303.77

299.50

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 5,537

Expenditures (tr.)

300

10/2/26

+0.215%

10/16/26

287.16

299.59

298.86

291.63

291.32

290.69

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 7,456

National Debt (tr.)

450

10/2/26

+0.134%

10/16/26

344.44

448.90

446.23

439.90

439.57

438.98

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 40,257

Aggregate Debt (tr.)

450

10/2/26

+0.427%

10/16/26

352.67

448.15

445.20

438.98

438.25

436.38

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 115,997

TRADE

(5%)

Foreign Debt (tr.)

300

10/2/26

-0.53%

10/16/26

252.18

295.57

293.90

292.83

301.35

301.19

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 9,356

Exports (in billions)

150

10/2/26

-1.40%

11/26

197.73

145.70

139.19

137.24

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 315.2

Imports (in billions))

150

10/2/26

-5.06%

11/26

130.49

145.32

146.56

139.14

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 420.6

Trade Surplus/Deficit (blns.)

150

10/2/26

-16.10%

11/26

182.61

108.06

100.20

84.07

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 105.6

SOCIAL INDICES

(40%)

Events of the Week

ACTS of MAN

(15%)

World Affairs

450

10/2/26

+0.1%

10/16/26

466.24

448.20

448.65

443.83

444.27

444.71

US pulls bombers from British bases after bomb threats and closes Brazilian embassy due to election related bomb threats (said election resulting in a runoff; Trumpy ex-prex and ex-con Bolsonaro leading liberal Lula. We order France & Germany (see above) to release their stockpiled diesel; they kneel giving some relief to truckers and farmers. Japan, however, is angry at another American Marine robbing and killing a woman in Okinawa.

War and terrorism

300

10/2/26

-0.1%

10/16/26

280.07

298.80

298.22

294.36

294.07

293.78

Authorities reveal jihadist pilot stabber previously fired from OmanAir for extremist views attacked while his victim was occupied – praying to Mecca (also a target of Iranian drones and missiles). Hungry Ukes are starving in cities ringed by mines and drones; angry Congolese burn down Ebola treatment center.

Politics

450

10/2/26

+0.1%

10/16/26

450.15

448.20

447.75

444.18

443.74

444.18

Midterms three weeks away with gamblers taking bets and candidates accusing each other of supporting data centers but President Trump and Sen. Cotton at war over... Daylight Savings Time. The Bern, on Kimmel, evidences Trump Enragement Syndrome by saying POTUS wants to ban Artificial Superintelligence (ASI); Trump – his $5,000 giveaway questioned, now offers more modest $90 handout to the old folks while nervous ‘Pubs back off and his ex-Sec-Press Karolin Leavitt finds a job at Fox.

Economics

450

10/2/26

-0.2%

10/16/26

426.64

450.00

449.55

444.18

443.74

442.85

American relieived (some) as gas prices drop eleven cents but weather, added to supply chain diesel shortages, augurs a weak season for peaches and pumpkins and apples (below). Amazon opens Prime Days, surveill and disclose “About You” dirt on customers for the world (including Russian hackers) to enjoy. USPS raises prices – just in time for the holidays. Merchers and media say the “Christmas creep” is beginning early.

Crime

150

10/2/26

-0.1%

10/16/26

201.34

149.55

149.40

148.35

148.05

147.90

Simpson sister says creepy OJ did it, calls for domestic stalkers and abusers to wear ankle monitors. Ongoing Cornell tabloid tempest finds fratrat Matt Ingalls saying Jane Doe raped him after he’d invited the boys to come up to his room and “whip it out” (and then escaped to Dubai). 37 shot, 2 die in Vienna, GA. Precocious Virginia six year old shoots teacher; swearing and threatening police – saying “come and get me if you can!” Instead they get his mother and off to jail she goes.

ACTS of GOD

Environment/Weather

450

10/2/26

-0.1%

10/16/26

275.85

447.30

446.85

442.40

441.96

441.52

Panicky shoppers empty stores on Florida and Alabama Gulf coasts while oil derricks are abandoned and events postponed due to the first Atlantic hurricane, Isaiah – finally blowing in as Rachel blows away from 104° LA. ICE disappearing – not from Minneapolis but from Swiss glaciers while, in the USA, Icy freezes and diseases are killing off the apple crops.

Disasters

450

10/2/26

+0.1%

10/16/26

463.08

450.00

449.55

450.45

451.80

452.25

Bouquet Wildfire threatens Sil Valley billionaires. Two killed, two saved and one missing after medical transport crshes off Nantucket. Ten injured as car rams crowd in Australia, terror not suspected.

LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX

15%

Science, Tech, Education

600

10/2/26

+0.1%

10/16/26

617.97

600.00

598.20

597.60

598.20

Dragon astronauts arrive at ISS for 6 months stay. SIRI app saves fisherman felled by a boulder and unable to reach phone to reach help. Strange and evil cyberhackers cancel licenses for American nurses while, Cornell’s “Jane Doe” and advocates protest the unjailing of frat rat defendants Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar, who were ordered to complete “educational modules” on sexual harassment, social media use and bystander intervention. They were also ordered to write “reflection papers.”

Equality (econ/social)

600

10/2/26

+0.1%

10/16/26

675.06

603.00

600.61

600.01

600.61

USS Lincoln finally home allowing relief after 323 days including 60 sailors now new fathers. Racist California dogwalker interrupts Mexican marriage proposal and its mariachis even tho’ the bride and groom are, apparently, citizens.

Health

600

10/2/26

-0.1%

10/16/26

440.46

595.06

592.64

593.23

592.64

First flu deaths of 2026 as anti-vaxxing sparks measles revival; Covid recedes, battered lettuce now blamed for Cyclo. Salmonellic broccoli seeds recalled from Amazon, listerian lemon sauce pasta from WalMart, frozen E Coli berries from everywhere. Also 122,000 cases of toxic Gatorade and Starbucks no-sugar drinks for... yup!... sugar. In the bad news, dirty doctors and corrupt “arbitrators” exploit fiscal loopholes in the “No Surprises” billing act of 2020; in the good news, twins conjoined at head separated in St. Louis.

Freedom and Justice

450

10/2/26

-0.1%

10/16/26

477.76

449.55

448.20

447.30

446.85

Botched Pike execution ends in removal of prisons boss; some states vote on ending death penalty, others want child molesters executed. Diddy prison perks end as he’s sent back to solitary. Old and new cases in the courts: Pike, Lindsay Clancey, Ole Miss kratom killers, Cornell rapists. Wifekiller Caleb Flynn guilty, 10 and 12 year old children shout out: “You killed our only mother!” Old Sergio Mangione confession dredged up, old SCOToid Sam Alito ponders retirement so Trump can appoint his replacement.

CULTURAL and MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS

Cultural and mortality incidents

600

10/2/26

+0.1%

10/16/26

595.85

450.45

454.95

455.40

New TV season begins as summer game shows wrap up. Back to work latenite jibs and jabs include Jimmy’s suspicions that Trump’s as likely to give every American $5K than he is to run a 5K, Seth’s footage of Sen. Cotton (R-Ak) saying the Prez “can go from zero to asshole in 20 seconds”. Taylor is top o’ the pops; “Verity” is B.O. number one, faces the Ben Affleck/Kerry Washington “Animals” this week, and the MLB division playoffs set (as above). Literary lions include Anne Jacobsen’s prophetic “Biowarfare” (also above), Michael Douglas’ autobio detailing his abuse by father Kirk and 40 year affair with Kathleen Turner, Malcolm Gladwell on Kimmel merching “The Americanization of Killing” which calls for more police.

RIP 102 year old Oscar actress Eva Marie Saint, sinning evangelist Jim Bakker, soul singer Freddy Jackson, author Jeffrey Archer, Margaret Hamilton (not the witch, the Apollo software writer), Canadian singer Sass Jordan. R(etire)IP: soccer star Lionel Messi

Miscellaneous incidents

450

10/2/26

+0.2%

10/16/26

555.05

450.90

455.41

456.32

457.23

Albuquerque hot air balloon festival begins. Miranda Lambert’s merging of country and disco called Crisco. Adopted adult finds his birth father is Michal McDonald of the Doobies. Gift pandas out of quarantine at Atlanta Zoo. “Pop n’ Bark” sex club in U.K. serves dogs and their owners. (Hopefully not with one another.)

The Don Jones Index for the week of October 2nd through October 8th, 2026 was UP 47.48 points

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.

ATTACHMENT “A” – FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

COLUMBUS DAY, 2025

October 9, 2025

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Today our Nation honors the legendary Christopher Columbus — the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth. This Columbus Day, we honor his life with reverence and gratitude, and we pledge to reclaim his extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue from the left-wing arsonists who have sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory.

Born in Genoa, Italy in 1451, Columbus quickly emerged as a titan of the Age of Exploration. On August 3, 1492, following years of intense study, preparation, and petitioning, Christopher Columbus secured funding from the Spanish Crown to set out on a daring expedition that most believed to be impossible. Commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Columbus and his crew boarded three small ships — the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria — to set sail on a perilous voyage across the Atlantic. He was guided by a noble mission: to discover a new trade route to Asia, bring glory to Spain, and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to distant lands.

Just over 2 months later, on October 12, 1492, Columbus made landfall in the modern-day Bahamas. Upon his arrival, he planted a majestic cross in a mighty act of devotion, dedicating the land to God and setting in motion America’s proud birthright of faith. Though he initially believed he had arrived in Asia, his discovery opened the vast frontier and untold splendors of the New World to Europe. He later ventured onward to Cuba and other islands in the Caribbean — exploring their coasts and engaging with their people.

Guided by steadfast prayer and unwavering fortitude and resolve, Columbus’s journey carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas — paving the way for the ultimate triumph of Western civilization less than three centuries later on July 4, 1776.

Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage. Before our very eyes, left-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces. Under my leadership, those days are finally over — and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination.

As we celebrate his legacy, we also acknowledge the contributions of the countless Italian-Americans who, like him, have endlessly contributed to our culture and our way of life. To this day, the United States and Italy share a special bond rooted in the timeless values of faith, family, and freedom. My Administration looks forward to strengthening our long and storied friendship in the years to come.

This Columbus Day, more than 500 years since Columbus arrived in the New World, we follow his example, we echo his resolve, and we offer our gratitude for his life of valor and grit. Above all, we commit to restoring a Nation that once again dares to tame the unknown, honors our rich cultural inheritance, and offers rightful praise to our Creator above.

In commemoration of Christopher Columbus’s historic voyage, the Congress, by joint resolution of April 30, 1934, and modified in 1968 (36 U.S.C. 107), as amended, has requested the President proclaim the second Monday of October of each year as “Columbus Day.”

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 13, 2025, as Columbus Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. I also direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in honor of the great Christopher Columbus and all who have contributed to building our Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fiftieth.

DONALD J. TRUMP

ATTACHMENT ONE – FROM

AI OVERVIEW

Columbus Day is a U.S. federal holiday that commemorates Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. [1, 2]

Date and Observance

· Date: Observed annually on the second Monday in October. In 2026, it falls on October 12. [1]

· Status: It is one of the nation's federal holidays, meaning federal offices and banks are closed, though not all state governments grant it as a paid workday off. [1, 2, 3]

· Italian-American Heritage: For many communities, the day celebrates Italian-American culture, history, and achievements with parades, music, and street fairs. [1]

History

· Early Events: An early celebration took place in New York in 1792 to mark the 300th anniversary of the landing. [1]

· Establishment: President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed it a national holiday in 1937 following heavy lobbying by the Knights of Columbus. [1]

· Federal Shift: In 1971, the observance was moved to the second Monday in October. [1]

Controversy and Alternatives

· Criticism: Critics note that Columbus's arrival led to the European colonization of the Americas, the transatlantic slave trade, and the severe decline of Indigenous populations due to mistreatment and disease. [1, 2]

· Indigenous Peoples' Day: Many U.S. states, cities, and tribal nations have replaced or supplemented Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day to honor Native American history and culture. [1, 2]

ATTACHMENT TWO – FROM

SWARK

HOW COLUMBUS DAY BECAME A FEDERAL HOLIDAY

By Drew Gladden Fri October 08, 2021

Many American students grew up learning about Christopher Columbus and his accidental discovery of the New World in 1492. For many, the children’s rhyme “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” and perhaps the names of his three ships (Nina, La Pinta, and Santa Maria), may be the only facts about Columbus that really stick with them. Some people may remember that he was Italian, but that he sailed for Spain. That he sailed for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Maybe even that he landed in the Bahamas accidentally while searching for a faster route to the Far East.

But who was he, actually? And why does he get his own holiday? The answer to the first is a bit more detailed, while the second seems simple enough, but has a more violent origin.

Columbus was born sometime between August 25 and October 31 in 1451 in the Republic of Genoa. His parents, Domenico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa, had a total of five children, including Christopher. Columbus took to sailing as a young man, and had traveled from the British Isles to Ghana by the time he became an adult.

He married Filipa Moniz Perestrelo of Portugal, living in Lisbon for several years and having one son, Diego. Later, he would take Beatriz Enriguez de Arana, a Castillian woman, as a mistress. They also had a son, Fernando.

Columbus studied astronomy, geography, and history, three subjects needed by any successful sailor at the time. Studying navigational charts and putting together what he was certain was a route to the East Indies, Columbus sought funding from several countries before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to fund the voyage. In August of 1492, Columbus and his crew set sail, hoping to earn their fortune in the spice trade.

Almost three months later, the trio of ships made landfall in the Bahamas on what is now San Salvador. Columbus would also visit the islands that would become Cuba and Hispaniola, and established a colony on Haiti. Believing he had reached India, Columbus and his crew mistakenly believed that the natives of the islands were Indios (from which we derive the term “Indian”), which became the de facto term for the indigenous tribes of the New World. Finding that they were, in fact, on a previously unconquered land, Columbus and his crew captured many of the natives, bringing them back to Castile in 1493.

After three more journeys to the New World, in which he explored the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad, and Central America in 1493, 1498, and 1502 respectively, Columbus soon became a colonial governor. However, his contemporaries accused Columbus of being too brutal to the subjects under his control, and was removed from his position. He was arrested and removed from Hispaniola in 1500. He eventually died in May of 1506, at the age of 54.

Despite his apparent flaws, however, including his mistreatment of the native Tainos people of Hispaniola, Columbus ushered in a period of exploration and colonization that would eventually bring pilgrims from Europe to North America, and eventually form the nation in which we now reside.

For all that, however, the actual holiday that bears Columbus’ name did not come along until much, much later. While the holiday is ostensibly reserved to celebrate the landing of Columbus in the New World, the holiday didn’t come to be until four centuries later.

In 1881, a young detective named David C. Hennessy of New Orleans, Louisiana, made headlines by arresting Giuseppe Esposito, a notorious Italian criminal. In 1888, Hennessy was promoted to superintendent and chief of police. Two years later, on October 15, 1890, Hennessy was walking home from work when he was shot by several gunmen. He gave chase, returned fire, and collapsed. When help arrived, Captain William O’Connor asked if he (Hennessy) knew who did the shooting, Hennessy reported whispered an ethnic slur for Italians. He died in the hospital the following day from his injuries. It was suspected that his wounds had come from lupara, sawed-off shotguns which were common in Mafiosi executions. Due to these factors, it was widely believed that Italians had killed Hennessy.

Dozens of Italians in New Orleans were rounded up in the aftermath of the execution, eventually narrowing their suspects down to 19. These were indicted and held in the Parish Prison. In March of 1891, nine of the men were tried for the murder. Hennessy had been a popular figure in New Orleans, and after several mistrials and acquittals, an angry mob of locals stormed the prison. The doors were wrenched open and 11 of the Italians held inside were lynched. It stands as one of the largest mass-lynchings in American history.

The lynching so enflamed anti-Italian sentiment across the United States that President Benjamin Harrison sought to sooth some of the tension by declaring a one-time national celebration of Columbus’ voyage in 1892, on the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the New World. The celebration included teachers and clergy proselytizing patriotism to pupils across the country. Harrison wanted the themes of loyalty, citizenship, and progress to be emphasized. One of the methods introduced was the Pledge of Allegiance, which was somewhat different than the one we know today:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Many Italian-Americans had already been celebrating their heritage in an unofficial holiday on October 12. An Italian man in Denver, Colorado, Angelo Noce, was able to lobby successfully to get the date enshrined as a legal holiday, and it was set as a state holiday in Colorado in 1905. The Knights of Columbus, a catholic fraternal order, lobbied to have October 12 set as Columbus Day. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made the proclamation to designate the date in 1934, though it would not become a federal holiday until the late 1960s.

Mariano A. Lucca founded the National Columbus Day Committee in 1966, lobbying to finally make Columbus Day a federal holiday. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation to enshrine it as a federal holiday on June 28, 1968, which would go into effect in 1971, to be observed on the second Monday in October.

Since then, the celebration of Columbus Day has been derided many places in the United States. The states of Alaska, parts of California, Florida, Hawaii, New Mexico, Maine, South Dakota, and Wisconsin no longer recognize the holiday, and have replaced it with “Indigenous People’s Day” in recognition of the original inhabitants of the New World. Several cities across the U.S. have also done away with the holiday, instead celebrating “Italian-American Heritage and Culture Day” instead.

ATTACHMENT THREE – FROM

AXIOS

HOW THE U.S. MARKS COLUMBUS DAY, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY

By Kelly Tyko Oct 10, 2025

The second Monday in October — Oct. 13 this year — is a federal holiday officially known as Columbus Day, but an increasing number of states and cities now mark it as Indigenous Peoples Day instead.

Why it matters: The shift reflects a growing national effort to recognize Native American history and resilience over honoring Christopher Columbus, whose legacy is tied to colonization and violence against Indigenous peoples.

The big picture: Native American advocates have been pushing states to swap Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples Day since the early 1990s.

· In 2021, President Biden became the first president to issue an official proclamation commemorating Indigenous Peoples Day.

Flashback: Last fall, lawmakers in Congress reintroduced legislation to formally replace Columbus Day at the federal level — though the bill has yet to advance.

Federal employees furloughed for Columbus Day

Driving the news: Due to the ongoing government shutdown, nearly all federal employees will be furloughed Monday — meaning they'll have the day off and won't be paid, White House officials tell Axios.

· Those in critical roles, such as air traffic controllers, will still report to work despite the shutdown and holiday.

Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day as state holiday

By the numbers: 30 states and three U.S. territories recognize Columbus Day in some form, per Pew Research Center.

· Only 20 states and two territories make it a paid holiday for state workers.

· New Mexico, Maine, Vermont and D.C. officially celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead.

· Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island mark both holidays.

Yes, but: More than half of states don't make either a paid holiday but often issue annual proclamations or mark Native heritage at other times of year, Pew found.

Banks, USPS closed Columbus Day; stock market open

State of play: Banks and the U.S. Postal Service are closed Monday for the holiday.

· But unlike Memorial Day, Labor Day and Juneteenth, U.S. stock markets are open.

· UPS is open and delivering while FedEx has modified service Monday with early on-call pickups and drop box pickups in some areas, according to their holiday schedules.

ATTACHMENT FOUR – FROM

FOX

CITIES THAT CANCELED COLUMBUS DAY COULD LOSE FEDERAL FUNDS UNDER NEW GOP BILL

Rep Michael Rulli argued that Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day should be separate

By Elizabeth Elkind Published October 13, 2025 9:53am EDT

Cabinet spontaneously applauds as Trump signs Columbus Day proclamation, declaring, 'We're back, Italians'

President Donald Trump's Cabinet broke out into applause, Oct. 9, 2025, as Trump signed a proclamation honoring Italian explorer Christopher Columbus.

A new House GOP proposal would withhold funding from U.S. jurisdictions that celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day.

It comes after President Donald Trump signed a proclamation last week declaring Oct. 13 Columbus Day in honor of the famed explorer as well as the heritage of Italian Americans across the U.S.

"This is about every son and daughter of Italy, every Knights of Columbus, every pasta dinner on Sunday, and every communion — everything that makes our culture who we are, from Philadelphia to San Francisco," Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

"Every Little Italy neighborhood of this country celebrates Christopher Columbus. It's so much more than the man. It's the people."

CABINET SPONTANEOUSLY APPLAUDS AS TRUMP SIGNS COLUMBUS DAY PROCLAMATION: 'WE'RE BACK, ITALIANS'

Rulli's new bill would both reaffirm Columbus Day as a federal holiday and punish cities and states that replaced the celebration of it with Indigenous Peoples Day.

"We are not going to allow any American municipality to think that they have power over the federal government," he said.

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden formally recognized the second Monday in October as both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day.

The move was lauded by progressive activists and historians who saw Christopher Columbus as the harbinger of a genocide against the land's indigenous people, millions of whom were killed amid American colonization.

But Rulli argued that Columbus Day was about honoring Italian Americans' heritage, pointing out that part of the motivation for its founding in 1892 was the extrajudicial lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans after the death of a local police chief.

He added his legislation was not meant to undercut the significance of Native Americans — whom he said deserve their own day of significance.

"I mean, the Native Americans are some of the most amazing, dynamic cultural people that make up the fabric of America. But they need their own special day," Rulli said. "And I would be willing to do that. I'm saying right now, I would be willing to get the indigenous people their own day, but not this day."

MAMDANI TAKES AIM AT TRUMP'S IMMIGRATION POLICIES IN FIERY STATEN ISLAND SPEECH: 'WE ARE FIGHTING TO KEEP NYC A SANCTUARY CITY'

He further accused the Biden administration of undercutting the legacy of both peoples by declaring both holidays on the same day, while praising Trump for restoring Columbus Day's original meaning.

"I don't care what party you're in … if you come from Italian American descent, you love what President Trump did. It was a wonderful olive branch to all Italian Americans," Rulli said.

"By no means, no way, shape or form, is this bill meant to offend any of the indigenous people. They deserve their own day. We will get them their own day, but not Columbus Day. This has already been embedded in our fabric for 130 years," he said.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

ATTACHMENT FIVE – FROM

BRITTANICA

Columbus Day

American holiday

Columbus Day, in the United States, a holiday (originally observed on October 12; since 1971 observed on the second Monday in October) to commemorate the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas on October 12, 1492.

Although his explorations were financed by Ferdinand and Isabella, joint rulers of Aragon and Castile (now in Spain), Columbus was a native of Genoa, Italy, and, over the years, Italian Americans took up the cause of honoring his achievement. The 300th anniversary of his landing was celebrated in New York City in 1792 by the Society of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, a benevolent fraternal organization that had been founded in that city in 1789 to promote patriotism and the principles of democracy.

However, the direct impetus for declaring the anniversary of Columbus’s arrival a national holiday was the mass lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans in 1891. One of the largest lynchings in U.S. history, it occurred during a time of widespread anti-immigrant and anti-Italian sentiment in the country and one year after the murder of New Orleans’ police chief, which was blamed on the city’s Italian population. In all, 19 Italians were to be tried for the murder, the weak evidence for which was exposed when 6 of the accused were acquitted and 3 were granted mistrials. Before the rest of the accused could be tried, a mob stormed the city’s prison and shot to death 11 Italians (a few of whom were not among the accused). The event threatened diplomatic relations between Italy and the United States, and, to appease the Italian government, U.S. Pres. Benjamin Harrison proclaimed the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival a national holiday in 1892, intending it to be a one-time celebration.

During the latter half of the 19th century, the day had begun to be celebrated in cities with large numbers of Italian Americans, and in 1937 it became an annual federal holiday by presidential proclamation. The day came to be marked by parades, often including floats depicting the ships of Columbus’s voyages, and by public ceremonies and festivities. By the quincentennial in 1992, however, the holiday had become an occasion for discussing the European conquest of Native peoples. Some people objected to celebrating the event and proposed alternatives, among them Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

The landing of Columbus also came to be commemorated in Spain and Italy. In many of the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas, the landing is observed as Día de la Raza (“Day of the Race” or “Day of the People”). Rather than celebrating Columbus’s arrival in the Americas, many observers of Día de la Raza celebrate the Indigenous peoples of Latin America and the cultures that developed over the centuries as their heritage melded with that of the Spanish explorers who followed Columbus. In some countries, religious ceremonies are an important part of the observances.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Mindy Johnston.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer

Also known as: Cristóbal Colón, Cristoforo Colombo

Valerie I.J. Flint

Britannica Editors

Oct. 1, 2026 •History

Christopher Columbus (born between August 26 and October 31?, 1451, Genoa [Italy]—died May 20, 1506, Valladolid, Spain) was a master navigator and admiral whose four transatlantic voyages (1492–93, 1493–96, 1498–1500, and 1502–04) opened the way for European exploration, exploitation, and colonization of the Americas. He has long been called the “discoverer” of the New World, although Vikings such as Leif Eriksson had visited North America five centuries earlier. Columbus made his transatlantic voyages under the sponsorship of Ferdinand II and Isabella I, the Catholic Monarchs of Aragon, Castile, and Leon in Spain. He was at first full of hope and ambition, an ambition partly gratified by his title “Admiral of the Ocean Sea,” awarded to him in April 1492, and by the grants enrolled in the Book of Privileges (a record of his titles and claims). However, he died a disappointed man.

The period between the quatercentenary celebrations of Columbus’s achievements in 1892–93 and the quincentenary ones of 1992 saw great advances in Columbus scholarship. Numerous books about Columbus appeared in the 1990s, and the insights of archaeologists and anthropologists began to complement those of sailors and historians. This effort gave rise to considerable debate. There was also a major shift in approach and interpretation; the older pro-European understanding gave way to one shaped from the perspective of the inhabitants of the Americas themselves. According to the older understanding, the “discovery” of the Americas was a great triumph, one in which Columbus played the part of hero in accomplishing the four voyages, in being the means of bringing great material profit to Spain and to other European countries, and in opening up the Americas to European settlement. The more recent perspective, however, has concentrated on the destructive side of the European conquest, emphasizing, for example, the disastrous impact of the slave trade and the ravages of imported disease on the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean region and the American continents. The sense of triumph has diminished accordingly, and the view of Columbus as hero has now been replaced, for many, by one of a man deeply flawed. While this second perception rarely doubts Columbus’s sincerity or abilities as a navigator, it emphatically removes him from his position of honor. Political activists of all kinds have intervened in the debate, further hindering the reconciliation of these disparate views.

LIFE

Early career and preparation for the first voyage

Little is known of Columbus’s early life. The vast majority of scholars, citing Columbus’s testament of 1498 and archival documents from Genoa and Savona, believe that he was born in Genoa to a Christian household. However, it has also been claimed that he was a converso (a Sephardic Jew who had converted to Christianity under threat of persecution in Spain) or that he was born in Portugal or elsewhere.

Columbus was the eldest son of Domenico Colombo, a Genoese wool worker and merchant, and Susanna Fontanarossa, his wife. His career as a seaman began effectively in the Portuguese merchant marine. After surviving a shipwreck off Cape Saint Vincent at the southwestern point of Portugal in 1476, he based himself in Lisbon, together with his brother Bartholomew. Both were employed as chart makers, but Columbus was principally a seagoing entrepreneur. In 1477 he sailed to Iceland and Ireland with the merchant marine, and in 1478 he was buying sugar in Madeira as an agent for the Genoese firm of Centurioni. In 1479 he met and married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz, a member of an impoverished noble Portuguese family. Their son, Diego, was born in 1480. Between 1482 and 1485 Columbus traded along the Guinea and Gold coasts of tropical West Africa and made at least one voyage to the Portuguese fortress of São Jorge da Mina (now Elmina, Ghana) there, gaining knowledge of Portuguese navigation and the Atlantic wind systems along the way. Felipa died in 1485, and Columbus took as his mistress Beatriz Enríquez de Harana of Córdoba, by whom he had his second son, Ferdinand (born c. 1488).

In 1484 Columbus began seeking support for an Atlantic crossing from King John II of Portugal but was denied aid. (Some conspiracy theorists have alleged that Columbus made a secret pact with the monarch, but there is no evidence of this.) By 1486 Columbus was firmly in Spain, asking for patronage from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. After at least two rejections, he at last obtained royal support in January 1492. This was achieved chiefly through the interventions of the Spanish treasurer, Luis de Santángel, and of the Franciscan friars of La Rábida, near Huelva, with whom Columbus had stayed in the summer of 1491. Juan Pérez of La Rábida had been one of the queen’s confessors and perhaps procured him the crucial audience.

EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY

Christian missionary and anti-Islamic fervor, the power of Castile and Aragon, the fear of Portugal, the lust for gold, the desire for adventure, the hope of conquests, and Europe’s genuine need for a reliable supply of herbs and spices for cooking, preserving, and medicine all combined to produce an explosion of energy that launched the first voyage. Columbus had been present at the siege of Granada, which was the last Moorish stronghold to fall to Spain (January 2, 1492), and he was in fact riding back from Granada to La Rábida when he was recalled to the Spanish court and the vital royal audience. Granada’s fall had produced euphoria among Spanish Christians and encouraged designs of ultimate triumph over the Islamic world, albeit chiefly, perhaps, by the back way round the globe. A direct assault eastward could prove difficult, because the Ottoman Empire and other Islamic states in the region had been gaining strength at a pace that was threatening the Christian monarchies themselves. The Islamic powers had effectively closed the land routes to the East and made the sea route south from the Red Sea extremely hard to access.

In the letter that prefaces his journal of the first voyage, the admiral vividly evokes his own hopes and binds them all together with the conquest of the infidel, the victory of Christianity, and the westward route to discovery and Christian alliance:

…and I saw the Moorish king come out of the gates of the city and kiss the royal hands of Your Highnesses…and Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians…took thought to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the said parts of India, to see those princes and peoples and lands…and the manner which should be used to bring about their conversion to our holy faith, and ordained that I should not go by land to the eastward, by which way it was the custom to go, but by way of the west, by which down to this day we do not know certainly that anyone has passed; therefore, having driven out all the Jews from your realms and lordships in the same month of January, Your Highnesses commanded me that, with a sufficient fleet, I should go to the said parts of India, and for this accorded me great rewards and ennobled me so that from that time henceforth I might style myself “Don” and be high admiral of the Ocean Sea and viceroy and perpetual Governor of the islands and continent which I should discover…and that my eldest son should succeed to the same position, and so on from generation to generation forever.

Thus a great number of interests were involved in this adventure, which was, in essence, the attempt to find a route to the rich land of Cathay (China), to India, and to the fabled gold and spice islands of the East by sailing westward over what was presumed to be open sea. European interest in a westward voyage reflected a combination of commercial, political, personal, and religious ambitions. Columbus sought a westward maritime route to the wealthy trading regions of Asia and hoped that success would bring riches and social advancement to himself and his family. Ferdinand and Isabella, meanwhile, saw the enterprise as an opportunity to strengthen Spain’s position relative to Portugal, expand its commercial reach, and advance Christian interests beyond Europe. With the support of the papacy under Pope Alexander VI, the Spanish monarchs also hoped to solidify their country’s role as a leading Catholic power.

Religious ideas also influenced Columbus’s ambitions. Like some Franciscans of his time, he believed that the expansion of Christianity was connected to biblical prophecy and hoped that wealth gained through his voyages might eventually help finance a campaign to reclaim Jerusalem for Christian rule. He also expected to encounter powerful rulers in Asia who might become allies of Christian Europe. Among them was the legendary Prester John, long believed by Europeans to rule a Christian kingdom somewhere in the East. Columbus also carried a letter from Ferdinand and Isabella for the ruler Europeans knew as the Great Khan, in the hope of establishing diplomatic relations.

There were more immediate reasons for Spain to support a westward voyage. Portugal had spent decades exploring the western coast of Africa in search of its own sea route to Asia, and in 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa. Columbus proposed an alternative: Rather than following the Portuguese route around Africa, Spain could attempt to reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic. The rivalry between the two kingdoms therefore added urgency to Columbus’s proposal.

THE FIRST VOYAGE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

The ships for the first voyage—the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María—were fitted out at Palos, on the Tinto River in Spain. Consortia put together by a royal treasury official and composed mainly of Genoese and Florentine bankers in Sevilla (Seville) provided at least 1,140,000 maravedis to outfit the expedition, and Columbus supplied more than a third of the sum contributed by the king and queen. Queen Isabella did not, then, have to pawn her jewels (a myth first put about by Bartolomé de Las Casas in the 16th century).

The fleet departed Palos on August 3, 1492, and sailed south toward the Canary Islands rather than heading directly west across the Atlantic. From there Columbus could take advantage of the northeast trade winds for the westward crossing. After repairs and nearly a month in the Canaries, the three ships departed San Sebastián de la Gomera on September 6.

On several occasions in September and early October, sailors spotted floating vegetation and various types of birds—all taken as signs that land was nearby. But by October 10 the crew had begun to lose patience, complaining that with their failure to make landfall, contrary winds and a shortage of provisions would keep them from returning home. Columbus allayed their fears, at least temporarily, and on October 12 land was sighted from the Pinta (though Columbus, on the Niña, later claimed the privilege for himself). The place of the first Caribbean landfall, called Guanahani, is hotly disputed, but San Salvador (Watlings) Island in the Bahamas is generally preferred to other Bahamian islands (Samana Cay, Rum Cay, or the Plana Cays) or to the Turks and Caicos Islands. Beyond planting the royal banner, however, Columbus spent little time there, being anxious to press on to Cipango, or Cipangu (Japan). He thought that he had found it in Cuba, where he landed on October 28, but he convinced himself by November 1 that Cuba was the Cathay mainland itself, though he had yet to see evidence of great cities. Thus, on December 5, he turned back southeastward to search for the fabled city of Zaiton (Quanzhou, China), missing through this decision his sole chance of setting foot on Florida soil.

Adverse winds carried the fleet to an island called Ayti (Haiti) by its Indigenous Taino inhabitants; on December 6 Columbus renamed it La Isla Española, or Hispaniola. He seems to have thought that Hispaniola might be Cipango or, if not Cipango, then perhaps one of the legendarily rich isles from which King Solomon’s triennial fleet brought back gold, gems, and spices to Jerusalem (1 Kings 10:11, 22); alternatively, he reasoned that the island could be related to the biblical kingdom of Sheba (Sabaʾ). There Columbus found at least enough gold and prosperity to save him from ridicule on his return to Spain. With the help of a Taino cacique, or Indigenous chief, named Guacanagarí, he set up a stockade on the northern coast of the island, named it La Navidad, and posted 39 men to guard it until his return. The accidental running aground of the Santa María on December 25, 1492, provided additional planks and provisions for the garrison.

Columbus began the return journey on January 16, 1493, aboard the Niña, accompanied by the Pinta. The journey was a nightmare. The Atlantic westerlies carried the ships toward Europe, but severe storms separated them during the crossing. The Niña reached Santa Maria in the Azores, where Portuguese authorities briefly detained several members of Columbus’s party after they went ashore. Another storm subsequently forced Columbus into Lisbon, where he met with King John II of Portugal before continuing to Spain. Columbus returned to Palos on March 15, 1493, about seven months after departing from Spain.

The voyage demonstrated that ships could cross the Atlantic and return to Europe using the prevailing wind systems, but Columbus remained mistaken about the geography of the lands he had encountered. He continued to believe that the Caribbean islands lay near Asia rather than recognizing that Europeans had encountered continents previously unknown to them. The voyage also established patterns that would have far-reaching consequences during Columbus’s subsequent expeditions and the Spanish colonization of the Caribbean. Columbus claimed inhabited territories for the Spanish crown from that first voyage and searched for sources of gold and other wealth, took Indigenous people captive, and established a Spanish outpost on Hispaniola. Although some early encounters involved trade and cooperation, relations between Spanish colonists and the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean would soon be marked by increasing demands for labor and tribute, armed conflict, enslavement, and profound disruption of Indigenous communities.

THE SECOND AND THIRD VOYAGES OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Columbus returned to Spain with gold, parrots, spices, and Indigenous captives, presenting Ferdinand and Isabella with evidence of the lands he had encountered. Preparations soon began for a much larger second expedition. Columbus departed Cádiz on September 25, 1493, with a fleet of at least 17 ships carrying more than 1,300 people. Unlike the first voyage, the second expedition was explicitly intended to establish a permanent Spanish presence in the Caribbean, pursue sources of wealth, and promote the conversion of Indigenous peoples to Christianity. Friars, settlers, officials, craftsmen, and soldiers were among those who accompanied the expedition.

Sailing again via Gomera in the Canary Islands, the fleet took a more southerly course than on the first voyage and reached Dominica in the Lesser Antilles on November 3. After sighting the Virgin Islands, it entered Samaná Bay in Hispaniola on November 23. Michele de Cuneo, deeply impressed by this unerring return, remarked that “since Genoa was Genoa there was never born a man so well equipped and expert in navigation as the said lord Admiral.”

An expedition to Navidad four days later was shocked to find the stockade destroyed and the men dead. Here was a clear sign that Taino resistance had gathered strength. More fortified places were rapidly built, including a city, founded on January 2 and named La Isabela for the queen. On February 2 Antonio de Torres left La Isabela with 12 ships, some gold, spices, parrots, and captives (most of whom died en route), as well as the bad news about Navidad and some complaints about Columbus’s methods of government. While Torres headed for Spain, two of Columbus’s subordinates, Alonso de Ojeda and Pedro Margarit, took revenge for the massacre at Navidad and captured slaves. In March Columbus explored the Cibao Valley (thought to be the gold-bearing region of the island) and established the fortress of St. Thomas (Santo Tomás) there. Then, late in April, Columbus led the Niña and two other ships to explore the Cuban coastline and search for gold in Jamaica, only to conclude that Hispaniola promised the richest spoils for the settlers. The admiral decided that Hispaniola was indeed the biblical land of Sheba and that Cuba was the mainland of Cathay. On June 12, 1494, Columbus insisted that his men swear a declaration to that effect—an indication that he intended to convince his sovereign he had reached Cathay, though not all of Columbus’s company agreed with him. The following year he began a determined conquest of Hispaniola, spreading devastation among the Taino. There is evidence, especially in the objections of a friar, Bernardo Buil, that Columbus’s methods remained harsh.

The admiral departed La Isabela for Spain on March 10, 1496, leaving his brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, in charge of the settlement. He reached Cádiz on June 11 and immediately pressed his plans for a third voyage upon his sovereigns, who were at Burgos. Spain was then at war with France and needed to buy and keep its alliances; moreover, the yield from the second voyage had fallen well short of the investment. Portugal was still a threat, though the two nations had divided the Atlantic conveniently between themselves in the Treaty of Tordesillas (June 7, 1494). According to the treaty, Spain might take all land west of a line drawn from pole to pole 370 leagues—i.e., about 1,185 miles (1,910 km)—west of the Cape Verde Islands, whereas Portugal could claim land to the east of the line. But what about the other side of the world, where West met East? Also, there might be a previously undiscovered antipodean continent. Who, then, should be trusted to draw the line there? Ferdinand and Isabella therefore made a cautious third investment. Six ships left Sanlúcar de Barrameda on May 30, 1498, three filled with explorers and three with provisions for the settlement on Hispaniola. It was clear now that Columbus was expected both to find great prizes and to establish the flag of Spain firmly in the East.

Certainly he found prizes, but not quite of the kind his sponsors required. His aim was to explore to the south of the existing discoveries, in the hope of finding both a strait from Cuba (his “Cathay”) to India and, perhaps, the unknown antipodean continent. On June 21 the provision ships left Gomera for Hispaniola, while the explorers headed south for the Cape Verde Islands. Columbus began the Atlantic crossing on July 4 from São Tiago (Santiago) in Cape Verde. He discovered the principle of compass variation (the variation at any point on the Earth’s surface between the direction to magnetic and geographic north), for which he made brilliant allowance on the journey from Margarita Island to Hispaniola on the later leg of this voyage, and he also observed, though misunderstood, the diurnal rotation of the northern polestar (Polaris). After stopping at Trinidad (named for the Holy Trinity, whose protection he had invoked for the voyage), Columbus entered the Gulf of Paria and planted the Spanish flag on the Paria Peninsula in Venezuela. He sent the caravel El Corréo southward to investigate the mouth of the Grande River (a northern branch of the Orinoco River delta), and by August 15 he knew by the great torrents of fresh water flowing into the Gulf of Paria that he had discovered another continent—“another world.” But he did not find the strait to India, nor did he find King Solomon’s gold mines, which his reading had led him and his sovereigns to expect in these latitudes; and he made only disastrous discoveries when he returned to Hispaniola.

Both the Taino and the European immigrants had resented the rule of Bartholomew and Diego Columbus. A rebellion by the mayor of La Isabela, Francisco Roldán, had led to appeals to the Spanish court, and, even as Columbus attempted to restore order (partly by hangings), the Spanish chief justice, Francisco de Bobadilla, was on his way to the colony with a royal commission to investigate the complaints. It is hard to explain exactly what the trouble was. Columbus’s report to his sovereigns from the second voyage, taken back by Torres and so known as the Torres Memorandum, speaks of sickness, poor provisioning, recalcitrant Indigenous inhabitants, and undisciplined hidalgos (gentry). It may be that these problems had intensified, but the Columbus family must be held at least partly responsible, intent as it was on enslaving the Taino and shipping them to Europe or forcing them to mine gold on Hispaniola. Under Columbus’s original system of gold production, local chiefs had been in charge of delivering gold on a loose per capita basis; the adelantado (governor) Bartholomew Columbus had replaced that policy with a system of direct exploitation led by favored Spaniards, causing widespread dissent among unfavored Spaniards and Indigenous chiefs. Bobadilla ruled against the Columbus family when he arrived in Hispaniola. He clapped Columbus and his two brothers in irons and sent them promptly back on the ship La Gorda, and they arrived at Cádiz in late October 1500.

During that return journey Columbus composed a long letter to his sovereigns that is one of the most extraordinary he wrote, and one of the most informative. One part of its exalted, almost mystical, quality may be attributed to the humiliations the admiral had endured (humiliations he compounded by refusing to allow the captain of the La Gorda to remove his chains during the voyage) and another to the fact that he was now suffering severely from sleeplessness, eyestrain, and a form of rheumatoid arthritis, which may have hastened his death. Much of what he said in the letter, however, seems genuinely to have expressed his beliefs. It shows that Columbus had absolute faith in his navigational abilities, his seaman’s sense of the weather, his eyes, and his reading. He asserted that he had reached the outer region of the Earthly Paradise, in that, during his earlier approach to Trinidad and the Paria Peninsula, the polestar’s rotation had given him the impression that the fleet was climbing. The weather had become extremely mild, and the flow of fresh water into the Gulf of Paria was, as he saw, enormous. All this could have one explanation only—they had mounted toward the temperate heights of the Earthly Paradise, heights from which the rivers of Paradise ran into the sea. Columbus had found all such signs of the outer regions of the Earthly Paradise in his reading, and indeed they were widely known. On this estimate, he was therefore close to the realms of gold that lay near Paradise. He had not found the gold yet, to be sure, but he knew where it was. Columbus’s expectations thus allowed him to interpret his discoveries in terms of biblical and Classical sources and to do so in a manner that would be comprehensible to his sponsors and favorable to himself.

This letter, desperate though it was, convinced the sovereigns that, even if he had not yet found the prize, he had been close to it after all. They ordered his release and gave him audience at Granada in late December 1500. They accepted that Columbus’s capacities as navigator and explorer were unexcelled, although he was an unsatisfactory governor, and on September 3, 1501, they appointed Nicolás de Ovando to succeed Bobadilla to the governorship. Columbus, though ill and importunate, was a better investment than the many adventurers and profiteers who had meantime been licensed to compete with him, and there was always the danger (revealed in some of the letters of this period) that he would offer his services to his native Genoa. In October 1501 Columbus went to Sevilla to make ready his fourth and final expedition.

THE FOURTH VOYAGE AND FINAL YEARS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

The winter and spring of 1501–02 were exceedingly busy. The four chosen ships were bought, fitted, and crewed, and some 20 of Columbus’s extant letters and memoranda were written then, many in exculpation of Bobadilla’s charges, others pressing even harder the nearness of the Earthly Paradise and the need to reconquer Jerusalem. Columbus took to calling himself “Christbearer” in his letters and to using a strange and mystical signature, never satisfactorily explained. He began also, with all these thoughts and pressures in mind, to compile his Book of Privileges, which defends the titles and financial claims of the Columbus family, and his apocalyptic Book of Prophecies, which includes several biblical passages. The first compilation seems an odd companion to the second, yet both were closely linked in the admiral’s own mind. He seems to have been certain that his mission was divinely guided. Thus, the loftiness of his spiritual aspirations increased as the threats to his personal ones mounted. In the midst of all these efforts and hazards, Columbus sailed from Cádiz on his fourth voyage on May 9, 1502.

Columbus’s sovereigns had lost much of their confidence in him, and there is much to suggest that pity mingled with hope in their support. His four ships contrasted sharply with the 30 granted to the governor Ovando. His illnesses were worsening, and the hostility to his rule in Hispaniola was unabated. Thus, Ferdinand and Isabella forbade him to return there. He was to resume, instead, his interrupted exploration of the “other world” to the south that he had found on his third voyage and to look particularly for gold and the strait to India. Columbus expected to meet the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama in the East, and the sovereigns instructed him on the appropriate courteous behavior for such a meeting—another sign, perhaps, that they did not wholly trust him. They were right. He departed from Gran Canaria on the night of May 25, made landfall at Martinique on June 15 (after the fastest crossing to date), and was, by June 29, demanding entrance to Santo Domingo on Hispaniola. Only on being refused entry by Ovando did he sail away to the west and south. From July to September 1502 he explored the coast of Jamaica, the southern shore of Cuba, Honduras, and the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua. His feat of Caribbean transnavigation, which took him to Bonacca Island off Cape Honduras on July 30, deserves to be reckoned on a par, as to difficulty, with that of crossing the Atlantic, and the admiral was justly proud of it. The fleet continued southward along Costa Rica. Constantly probing for the strait, Columbus sailed round the Chiriquí Lagoon (in Panama) in October; then, searching for gold, he explored the Panamanian region of Veragua (Veraguas) in the foulest of weather. In order to exploit the promising gold yield he was beginning to find there, the admiral in February 1503 attempted to establish a trading post at Santa María de Belén on the bank of the Belén (Bethlehem) River under the command of Bartholomew Columbus. However, Indigenous resistance and the poor condition of his ships (of which only two remained, fearfully holed by shipworm) caused him to turn back to Hispaniola. On this voyage disaster again struck. Against Columbus’s better judgment, his pilots turned the fleet north too soon. The ships could not make the distance and had to be beached on the coast of Jamaica. By June 1503 Columbus and his crews were castaways.

Columbus had hoped, as he said to his sovereigns, that “my hard and troublesome voyage may yet turn out to be my noblest”; it was in fact the most disappointing of all and the most unlucky. In its explorations the fleet had missed discovering the Pacific (across the isthmus of Panama) and failed to make contact with the Maya of Yucatán by the narrowest of margins. Two of the men—Diego Méndez and Bartolomeo Fieschi, captains of the wrecked ships La Capitana and Vizcaíno, respectively—left about July 17 by canoe to get help for the castaways; although they managed to traverse the 450 miles (720 km) of open sea to Hispaniola, Ovando made no great haste to deliver that help. In the meantime, the admiral displayed his acumen once again by correctly predicting an eclipse of the Moon from his astronomical tables, thus frightening the local peoples into providing food; but rescuers did not arrive until June 1504, and Columbus and his men did not reach Hispaniola until August 13 of that year. On November 7 he sailed back to Sanlúcar and found that Queen Isabella, his main supporter, had made her will and was dying.

Columbus always maintained that he had found the true Indies and Cathay in the face of mounting evidence that he had not. Perhaps he genuinely believed that he had been there; in any event, his disallowances of the “New World” hindered his goals of nobility and wealth and dented his later reputation. Columbus had been remote from his companions and intending colonists, and he had been a poor judge of the ambitions, and perhaps the failings, of those who sailed with him. This combination proved damaging to almost all of his hopes. Nonetheless, it would be wrong to suppose that Columbus spent his final two years wholly in illness, poverty, and oblivion. His son Diego was well established at court, and the admiral himself lived in Sevilla in some style. His “tenth” of the gold diggings in Hispaniola, guaranteed in 1493, provided a substantial revenue (against which his Genoese bankers allowed him to draw), and one of the few ships to escape a hurricane off Hispaniola in 1502 (in which Bobadilla himself went down) was that carrying Columbus’s gold. He felt himself ill-used and shortchanged nonetheless, and these years were marred, for both him and King Ferdinand, by his constant pressing for redress. Columbus followed the court from Segovia to Salamanca and Valladolid, attempting to gain an audience. He knew that his life was nearing its end, and in August 1505 he began to amend his will. He died on May 20, 1506. First he was laid in the Franciscan friary in Valladolid, then taken to the family mausoleum established at the Carthusian monastery of Las Cuevas in Sevilla. In 1542, by the will of his son Diego, Columbus’s bones were laid with his own in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, Hispaniola (now in the Dominican Republic). After Spain ceded Hispaniola to France, the remains were moved to Havana, Cuba, in 1795 and returned to Sevilla in 1898. In 1877, however, workers at the cathedral in Santo Domingo claimed to have found another set of bones that were marked as those of Columbus. Since 1992 these bones have been interred in the Columbus Lighthouse (Faro a Colón).

PRINCIPAL EVIDENCE OF TRAVELS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

REMAINS

There are few material remains of Columbus’s travels. Efforts to find the Spaniards’ first settlement on Hispaniola have so far failed, but the present-day fishing village of Bord de Mer de Limonade (near Cap-Haïtien, Haiti) may be close to the original site, and a Taino chieftain’s settlement has been identified nearby. Concepción de la Vega, which Columbus founded on the second voyage, may be the present La Vega Vieja, in the Dominican Republic. Excavations at the site of La Isabela were still ongoing in the early 21st century, as were those at Sevilla la Nueva, Jamaica, where Columbus’s two caravels were beached on the fourth voyage. The techniques of skeletal paleopathology and paleodemography were applied with some success to determine the fates of the native populations.

WRITTEN SOURCES

The majority of the surviving primary sources about Columbus are not private diaries or missives; instead, they were intended to be read by other people. There is, then, an element of manipulation about them—a fact that must be borne fully in mind for their proper understanding. Foremost among these sources are the journals written by Columbus himself for his sovereigns—one for the first voyage, now lost though partly reconstructed; one for the second, almost wholly gone; and one for the third, which, like the first, is accessible through reconstructions made by using later quotations. Each of the journals may be supplemented by letters and reports to and from the sovereigns and their trusted officials and friends, provisioning decrees from the sovereigns, and, in the case of the second voyage, letters and reports of letters from fellow voyagers (especially Michele da Cuneo, Diego Alvarez Chanca, and Guillermo Coma). There is no journal and only one letter from the fourth voyage, but a complete roster and payroll survive from this, alone of all the voyages; in addition, an eyewitness account survives that has been plausibly attributed to Columbus’s younger son, Ferdinand, who traveled with the admiral. Further light is thrown upon the explorations by the so-called Pleitos de Colón, judicial documents concerning Columbus’s disputed legacy. A more recent discovery is a copybook that purportedly contains five narrative letters and two personal ones from Columbus, all previously unknown, as well as additional copies of two known letters—all claimed as authentic. Supplemental narratives include The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus, which has been attributed to Ferdinand Columbus, the Historia de los Reyes Católicos (c. 1500) of Andrés Bernáldez (a friend of Columbus and chaplain to the archbishop of Sevilla), and the Historia de las Indias, which was compiled about 1550–63 by Bartolomé de Las Casas (former bishop of Chiapas and a champion of the indigenous people of the Americas).

Columbus’s intentions and presuppositions may be better understood by examining the few books still extant from his own library. Some of these were extensively annotated, often by the admiral and sometimes by his brother Bartholomew, including copies of the Imago mundi by the 15th-century French theologian Pierre d’Ailly (a compendium containing a great number of cosmological and theological texts), the Historia rerum ubique gestarum of Pope Pius II, published in 1477, the version of The Travels of Marco Polo known as the De consuetudinibus et condicionibus orientalium regionum of Francesco Pipino (1483–85), Alfonso de Palencia’s late 15th-century Castilian translation of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, and the humanist Cristoforo Landino’s Italian translation of the Natural History of Pliny the Elder. Other books known to have been in Columbus’s possession are the Guide to Geography of the ancient astronomer and geographer Ptolemy, the Catholicon of the 15th-century encyclopaedist John of Genoa, and a popular handbook to confession, the Confessionale produced by the Dominican St. Antoninus of Florence. The whole shows that the admiral was adept in Latin, Castilian, and Italian, if not expert in all three. He annotated primarily in Latin and Spanish, very rarely in Italian. He had probably already read and annotated at least the first three named texts before he set out on his first voyage to the “Indies.” Columbus was a deeply religious and reflective man as well as a distinguished seaman, and, being largely self-taught, he had a reverence for learning, perhaps especially the learning of his most influential Spanish supporters. A striking manifestation of his sensibilities is the Book of Prophecies, a collection of pronouncements largely taken from the Bible and seeming to bear directly on his role in the western voyages; the book was probably compiled by Columbus and his friend the Carthusian friar Gaspar Gorricio between September 1501 and March 1502, with additions until circa 1505.

CALCULATIONS

Contrary to common lore, Columbus’s contemporaries never thought that the world was flat. Educated Europeans had known that the Earth was spherical in shape since at least the early 7th century, when the popular Etymologies of St. Isidore of Sevilla were produced in Spain. Columbus’s miscalculations, such as they were, lay in other areas. First, his estimate of the sea distance to be crossed to Cathay was wildly inaccurate. Columbus rejected Ptolemy’s estimate of the journey from West to East overland, substituting a far longer one based on a chart (now lost) supplied by the Florentine mathematician and geographer Paolo Toscanelli, and on Columbus’s preference for the calculations of the Classical geographer Marinus of Tyre. Additionally, Columbus’s reading primarily of the 13th–14th-century Venetian Marco Polo’s Travels gave him the idea that the lands of the East stretched out far around the back of the globe, with the island of Cipango—itself surrounded by islands—located a further 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from the mainland of Cathay. He seems to have argued that this archipelago might be near the Azores. Columbus also read the seer Salathiel-Ezra in the books of Esdras, from the Apocrypha (especially 2 Esdras 6:42, in which the prophet states that the Earth is six parts land to one of water), thus reinforcing these ideas of the proportion of land- to sea-crossing. The mistake was further compounded by his idiosyncratic view of the length of a degree of geographic latitude. The degree, according to Arabic calculators, consisted of 562/3 Arab miles, and an Arab mile measured 6,481 feet (1,975.5 meters). Given that a nautical mile measures 6,076 feet (1,852 meters), this degree amounts to approximately 60.45 nautical miles (112 km). Columbus, however, used the Italian mile of 4,847 feet (1,477.5 meters) for his computations and thus arrived at approximately 45 nautical miles (83 km) to a degree. This shortened the supposed distance across the sea westward to such an extent that Zaiton, Marco Polo’s great port of Cathay, would have lain a little to the east of present-day San Diego, California, U.S.; also, the islands of Cipango would have been about as far north of the Equator as the Virgin Islands—close to where Columbus actually made his landfalls. (See also Sidebar: Measuring the Earth, Classical and Arabic.)

The miscalculation of distance may have been willful on Columbus’s part and made with an eye to his sponsors. The first journal suggests that Columbus may have been aware of his inaccuracy, for he consistently concealed from his sailors the great number of miles they had covered, lest they become fearful for the journey back. Such manipulations may be interpreted as evidence of bravery and the need to inspire confidence rather than of simple dishonesty or error

LEGACY OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Columbus’s voyages had far-reaching consequences for both Europe and the Americas. Although he did not reach Asia as he intended, his Atlantic crossings helped establish sustained contact between Europe and the Americas and opened the way for European exploration, conquest, and colonization on a vast scale. The resulting movement of people, plants, animals, diseases, and commodities across the Atlantic transformed societies and environments on both sides of the ocean. For Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, however, Spanish colonization brought warfare, forced labor, enslavement, displacement, and epidemic disease. The Taíno population declined catastrophically in the decades after European contact, although Taíno ancestry, identity, and cultural traditions have endured.

Columbus’s actions and reputation were contested even during his lifetime. Complaints about his administration of Hispaniola contributed to the Spanish crown’s decision to send Francisco de Bobadilla to investigate conditions in the colony in 1500. Bobadilla arrested Columbus and his brothers and sent them back to Spain in chains. In the decades that followed, Bartolomé de Las Casas, who had participated in the early colonization of the Caribbean before becoming a Dominican friar and advocate for Indigenous peoples, documented the violence and exploitation inflicted upon the Indigenous population. Although Las Casas admired aspects of Columbus and regarded his voyages as part of the expansion of Christianity, his writings became an important source for understanding the destructive consequences of Spanish colonization in the Caribbean.

At the same time, Columbus gradually acquired a larger symbolic importance that extended far beyond the circumstances of his own life. In the United States, his reputation grew during the late 18th and 19th centuries, when writers and political figures presented him as a symbol of exploration and linked his voyages to the history of the Americas. His name was adopted for places and institutions, including the District of Columbia, and monuments were erected in his honor. Italian American communities later played an important role in Columbus commemorations, particularly at a time when Italian immigrants faced widespread discrimination in the United States. Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937.

The 500th anniversary of Columbus’s first voyage in 1992 prompted a particularly intense reconsideration of that traditional image. Scholars, Indigenous activists, and others called greater attention to the experiences of the peoples who already inhabited the Americas and to the conquest, enslavement, forced labor, and demographic catastrophe that followed European arrival. The language used to describe 1492 also came under greater scrutiny. The traditional description of Columbus as the “discoverer” of America has increasingly been challenged because millions of Indigenous people already lived throughout the Western Hemisphere and because Norse voyagers had reached North America centuries before Columbus. Terms such as “encounter” and “contact” are consequently often used to describe the meeting of peoples from the previously separated Atlantic worlds. Columbus therefore occupies a complicated place in historical memory.

His voyages were remarkable feats of Atlantic navigation and fundamentally altered the course of world history, but they also helped initiate Spanish colonization of the Caribbean and systems of exploitation in which Columbus himself participated. Modern debates over monuments, Columbus Day, and Indigenous Peoples’ Day reflect broader disagreements over which aspects of that history should be emphasized in public commemoration. Rather than a single interpretation of Columbus, his legacy encompasses both the global consequences of the voyages he initiated and the experiences of the Indigenous peoples whose worlds were transformed by them.

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AI OVERVIEW

Columbus Day is no longer celebrated in many U.S. states and cities because it is being replaced by Indigenous Peoples' Day to honor Native Americans and recognize the harmful legacy of European colonization.

Arizona Mirror +2

While it remains an official federal holiday, public perception and local laws have shifted significantly.

Wikipedia +1

Why the Holiday Changed

· Historical Harm: Critics point out that Columbus and his men brought violence, forced labor, and deadly European diseases that wiped out vast numbers of Indigenous people.

National Museum of the American Indian +2

· The "Discovery" Myth: Historians and activists note that Columbus did not "discover" America, as millions of Indigenous people already lived on the continent for thousands of years

National Museum of the American Indian

· Shifting Education: Schools and local governments now prefer to teach a more complete history rather than a sanitized version of exploration.

The Conversation +1

THE MOVE TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY

· Growing Recognition: Over a dozen states and more than 130 cities have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day or Native American Day.

Facebook +1

· Honoring Native Cultures: The alternative day focuses on the survival, resilience, and rich history of the original inhabitants of the Americas.

YouTube·The National News +1

ATTACHMENT EIGHT – FROM

HARVARD.EDU

THE COLUMBUS DAY PROBLEM

Who do we celebrate, and why? Equipping students to grapple with the complexities of the past and the controversies of today

· Posted October 5, 2017

· By Leah Shafer and Bari Walsh

Once upon a time, teachers celebrated Columbus Day by leading children in choruses of song about the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. If the commemorations dealt at all with the impact of European exploration on the indigenous civilizations already flourishing in these “discovered” lands, it was often fleeting. In recent years, the conversation has become more nuanced, as educators — and people across the country — have begun to explore the many reasons why celebrating Christopher Columbus is problematic: the violent abuse of indigenous peoples, the launch of the transatlantic slave trade, and the introduction of a swath of lethal diseases to an unprepared continent.

Just as the country grapples with the meaning and problems of Confederate monuments, so too are schools, towns, and even whole states grappling with “Columbus Day.” Many are deciding to rename and refocus the holiday, choosing to call it Indigenous Peoples' Day to honor the people whose lives and cultures were irreparably damaged by the colonial conquest that the age of exploration ushered into being.

We asked Eric Shed, a veteran history teacher who now directs the Harvard Teacher Fellows Program, to share perspectives on the changing currents around Columbus Day and the challenges of learning and teaching history, as distinct from celebrating it.

Current views on Columbus Day:

Trends are really hard to detect in a country as divided as ours, but I’ve noticed two developments in my work teaching high school and teaching at Harvard.

1. There’s definitely a trend toward questioning Columbus Day. Some schools, cities, and institutions, such as the Harvard Graduate School of Education, have adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead. I think that’s part of a larger push nationwide to be critical of our past.

2. Some of my students entered high school aware of the problematic nature of Columbus — but their thinking is, “Well, Columbus is not important to study, because he didn’t do anything.” We have to push back on that. We need students to understand that Columbus is important, even if he isn’t someone to be celebrated.

We need students to understand that Columbus is important, even if he isn’t someone to be celebrated. He initiated a turning point in our history.

WHY THE COLUMBUS CONTROVERSY MATTERS FOR STUDENTS:

Understanding controversies — what Columbus did, how he did it, whether we should be commemorating him — builds skills that are fundamental for understanding history and social studies.

· It involves really unpacking the past, looking for complications, and making a deep exploration into the people that made history happen, rather than just looking for a glossy overview.

· It requires looking at dominant narratives and counternarratives. Dominant narratives tend to speak about heroes in a simple sense; counternarratives can be much more critical.

· It involves grappling with multiple perspectives, a fundamental skill for historians. And those multiple viewpoints may help engage students who might feel otherwise unrepresented in a history class, such as females and students of color.

The Columbus controversy can also help students see that history is still applicable today. Right now, across the country, cities and schools are faced with the question, “Should we celebrate Columbus?” We’re facing similar questions about how we commemorate the confederacy and the Civil War. Historical knowledge can help students create an argument to answer those questions.

And in general, we want to students to engage with controversy. That’s when learning happens. If we have a holiday honoring somebody, the question on everyone’s mind should be, “Why are we honoring them? What were his actual contributions?” Those are important questions we want to ask as citizens.

WHY WE SHOULD STILL TEACH COLUMBUS:

Columbus did not “discover America,” but his voyages began the Columbian exchange, a turning point in world history involving the massive transfers of human populations, cultures, ideas, animals, plants, and diseases. Turning points are powerful lenses through which students need to view our past.

Understanding controversies — what Columbus did, how he did it, whether we should be commemorating him — builds skills that are fundamental for understanding history and social studies.

TEACHING COLUMBUS ACCURATELY AND AGE-APPROPRIATELY:

I don’t think it’s ever too young. We don’t want to expose young kids to graphic accounts of brutal treatment of Native Americans, but I think you want them to begin to question: What did this person do? Why is he important? Why are we celebrating him? How could we look at this from a different perspective?

Based on my experience, I think it’s vitally essential that teachers engage kids as young as sixth grade in questions that really interrogate Columbus. Students need to grapple with these multiple perspectives in history and the not-so-pleasant aspects of our past. And it’s fundamentally important that they do so.

Student activities that can help:

· Engage students in a structured academic controversy, in which they look at multiple viewpoints around the question “Should we celebrate Columbus Day?” The goal isn’t to win a debate, but to articulate both sides of the question and form a conclusion based on the critical analysis of evidence.

· Have students write letters to their Congressperson, school board, or other institutional leaders, explaining their opinion on how Columbus Day should be commemorated, if at all.

· Ask students to rewrite textbook passages so that they more authentically account for what happened.

· Discuss the Columbian exchange as a class. Look at Columbus as a turning point in history, and ask, “What impacts do we still see today?”

· Explore how Columbus Day originated. President Benjamin Harrison proposed it in an election speech in 1892, at a time in which huge numbers of Catholic and Italian immigrants had entered the country, changing the voter demographic. Why is that historical context important? (See this additional resource on the origins of the holiday.)

· Examine the culture and contribution of indigenous people through primary source analysis.

· Examine Columbus’s "discovery" of America from the perspective of an indigenous person.

· With older students, explore what Indigenous Peoples’ Day would really mean. Should we celebrate the contributions of indigenous folks? Share their voices and culture? Or should we engage in some sort of reconciliation work?

I want to make sure we do justice to indigenous folks. I think there is a ton of potential in celebrating an Indigenous Peoples' Day, but what that is, what it looks like — we need to start with asking indigenous folks to define it.

Resources for teachers:

James Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me, and his shorter Lies My Teacher Told Me about Christopher Columbus, critique how textbooks have covered Columbus. For instance, they lay out what specific textbooks omitted about Columbus’s involvement with the slave trade and genocide. They also show evidence that at least 12 other groups of people entered the Americas before Columbus.

Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States includes horrific, detailed eyewitness accounts of how the Spanish explorers treated the Native Americans. The Zinn Education Project also includes a bunch of primary sources related to Columbus, such as writings by Bartolomé de La Casas.

These books have fueled the trends I mentioned around Columbus Day. As these texts have become popular, and more history teachers have read them, more students have learned a more accurate account of Columbus from a younger age.

Columbus Day? Indigenous Peoples’ Day?

Personally, I don’t think we should celebrate Columbus Day. A genocide happened in "the Americas," and it began with Columbus.

When it comes to celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day, I want to make sure we do justice to indigenous folks. I think there is a ton of potential in celebrating an Indigenous Peoples' Day, but what that is, what it looks like — we need to start with asking indigenous folks to define it.

It’s the responsibility of our school system to talk about Columbus as part of our work to prepare students to be citizens. As a citizen, you need to be able to critically engage and reflect in a discourse around the public celebration and honoring of historical events and figures. You need to be able to deeply understand the profoundly problematic past of this great nation.

I think history teachers have a responsibility to prepare students to comment critically and participate critically in the discourse about who we are honoring, who we are celebrating, and how we are doing it. Because that’s public history. We all own it. We need to own it.

ATTACHMENT NINE – FROM

HARVARD GAZETTE

A DAY OF RECKONING

By Liz Mineo, Harvard Staff Writer October 8, 2020

In June, a damaged Christopher Columbus statue in Boston’s North End neighborhood was removed. On Oct. 6, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced that the statue would not return to its original location in the area’s waterfront park.

PUSHING TO END MYTH OF COLUMBUS AND HONOR HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Celebrated by Italian immigrants in the United States since 1792, Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937 to commemorate the “arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas.” The explorer’s reputation has darkened in recent years as scholars have focused more attention on the killings and other atrocities he committed against Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. This year, amid a national reckoning on racial injustice, protesters have toppled and beheaded statues of Columbus in various cities, while pressure grows to abolish the national holiday and replace it with one that celebrates the people who populated the Americas long before the explorer “sailed the ocean blue.” The Gazette asked some members of the Harvard community, “Is this the end of Columbus Day, and how can America best replace it?”

Megan Hill

Citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin
Program Director, Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development

In the fourth grade, I came home from school and my dad asked me what I learned. I excitedly told him Mrs. Brennan taught us, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” As an Oneida citizen and a national leader in American Indian education, I can’t imagine what must have run through his mind, but the next day he drove to my (predominantly white and affluent) school and called an emergency meeting with my teacher. That day, she revised her lesson plan.

For Native people in the U.S., Columbus Day represents a celebration of genocide and dispossession. The irony is that Columbus didn’t discover anything. Not only was he lost, thinking he had landed in India, but there is significant evidence of trans-oceanic contact prior to 1492. The day celebrates a fictionalized and sanitized version of colonialism, whitewashing generations of brutality that many Europeans brought to these shores.

In cities across the country there is a growing awareness of our collective and violent history — and of the legacies that reverberate in our justice, health, and educational systems. Statues of Christopher Columbus are crashing down and calls to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day ring out. For me, it is not as simple as replacing one vacation day on the calendar with another. If these calls are sincere, any change to Indigenous Peoples’ Day must be backed up by action and an active recognition of the continued survival and resilience of Indigenous peoples.

Investment in civics education needs to be made in partnership with tribal nations to teach the true history of the U.S. and to ensure every American knows that today, tribal nations are solving universal challenges and pioneering innovations that can change and enhance the world.

America could learn a lot from its first peoples. But it must start with the truth.

Joseph P. Gone, Ph.D. ’92

Professor of Anthropology and of Global Health and Social Medicine
Faculty Director, Harvard University Native American Program

Recent responses to police shootings and killings of unarmed Black people in the U.S. have forced a national reckoning over America’s monstrous racial legacy. One consequence has been a radical rethinking of who we choose to publicly commemorate through statues, monuments, and celebrations. In this light, public observance of Columbus Day must end. For this nation’s over 5 million American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian citizens, Columbus’ voyages to the so-called New World inaugurated a long history of exploitation, enslavement, eradication, and erasure (and he himself initiated and sanctioned such actions).

Thus, to commemorate Columbus is to commemorate European colonization of Indigenous peoples. Instead of recalling and recounting those tawdry tales, let us instead cite and celebrate a most improbable outcome of this history: Indigenous survivance. Stories of Indigenous survival, resilience, and resistance remain in short supply in mainstream America, but not because they do not exist; rather, they have been eclipsed through a nationalist project of Indigenous erasure. We can change this by replacing the October federal holiday with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The city of Cambridge has already done so, and while Harvard has adopted no formal policy that officially recognizes Columbus Day, neither has it uniformly struck Columbus Day from its academic calendars or formally recognized Indigenous Peoples’ Day on a University-wide basis. The time of reckoning is at hand. Let us demonstrate together our collective solidarity with Indigenous peoples by abandoning public commemoration of Columbus in exchange for celebrating Indigenous survivance.

Jaidyn Probst ’23

Lower Sioux Indian Community

For Indigenous people in America, the fact that many institutions and governments still recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day under a different name (Columbus Day) is painful. It is only contributing to the continued erasure of Native peoples. There should be no reason to celebrate a man who only brought disease, genocide, and various assault to Native communities. He shouldn’t be a figure who is upheld in modern society. Quite frankly, he discovered nothing, so what is there to celebrate? America can best replace this day by acknowledging it universally as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Not only does this holiday allow the country to educate itself on the loaded history surrounding the holiday, it also celebrates the perseverance and power that Native communities continue to have in the world. Far too often, Native people are talked about as a thing of the past, and by designating the day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, it gives Indigenous people a break from having to constantly defend our existence to society. Not only is it a celebration of our people, it is also a celebration of our culture, our food, and our art.

Robert Anderson

Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School

It’s time for Columbus Day to go away and be replaced by Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a national holiday. That shift would require people to think about the fact that this country was founded on taking over territory that belonged to the Indigenous peoples who are still here and whose ancestors lived here for thousands of years and had their own societies, their own culture, and their own political institutions.

It’s important to acknowledge the Indigenous roots of this country we call the United States. We also have to respect the fact that modern-day Indian tribes in the United States are governments; they have sovereignty; they have land; and we still have the right to independence within the U.S. This is a territory where my ancestors lived, and I appreciate the fact that people in some areas understand they’re living on land that belonged to somebody else and still belongs to them in many ways.

Calling it Indigenous Peoples’ Day would draw attention to a fact that is so overlooked. I have taught Indian law for 12 years at the Harvard Law School, and many students come up to me to say, “We were never taught this in grade school or high school,” or even in college in many instances. They’re amazed to understand how the colonial process worked. I tell my students that this is a very uncomfortable part of U.S. history, a very rotten understory that people don’t like to look at. The Black Lives Matter movement is a great analog because some people want to ignore the fact that police act in ways that are racially discriminatory. In the same way, the majority in the United States prefer not to think about the fact that most of this country was forcibly taken away from the Indigenous populations. It’s something that people like to keep it in the closet or sweep under the rug. The time for a reckoning with the unjust treatment of Native American people is overdue.

Anna Kate Cannon ’21

Co-president of Natives at Harvard College

There is some hope this year for a recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day to replace Columbus Day, primarily because there has been this huge reckoning with race propelled by the Black Lives Matter movement. A lot of changes that are happening now we owe to Black Lives Matter protesters. It has really forced a lot of people in power and a lot of regular American citizens to reckon with the fact that our country has very racist origins and structures in place today.

But I am much more hopeful for change at the state level than I am at the national level. As a co-president of Natives at Harvard College, I’d like to see the University recognize solely Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of celebrating both Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day. Every year, we get together in front of Matthews Hall, and we put on this big celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. But we’ve always said that our gathering is part celebration of Indigenous people and part protest against commemorating Columbus Day.

Given the current situation and what we know about Columbus, we shouldn’t celebrate him. Many people know that Columbus never actually set foot in the U.S. Even celebrating Columbus as the one who discovered America is completely false. It is time to recognize the full and true history of the United States, which was founded on the stealing of Native lands and the deaths and disenfranchisement of Indigenous peoples, who populated North America and the rest of the continent. We’re taught very early, in elementary school, that America’s claim to this continent’s land was entirely legitimate, and that the people who were here were not “civilized” and their societies were not “advanced enough.” This is part of the myth of America, the idea that the settlers deserved this land. But the truth is that Indigenous people were here before the settlers. Having a day to commemorate them would be a big step in recognizing the contributions of Indigenous people to this country’s history.

Joseph R. Zordan ’26

Bad River Ojibwe
Ph.D. Student in History of Art and Architecture

Even if Columbus Day were to reach its end in name, the things it represents— the doctrine of discovery, manifest destiny, etc. — are foundational to the myth that is America. The specter of Columbus will not be exorcised so easily from the land. But that doesn’t make the move to rename this day Indigenous Peoples’ Day meaningless. With each year I’ve been moved by the grace and dignity that we, as Indigenous people, have given ourselves on that day.

After centuries of the United States and Canadian governments attempting to make our culture, lives, and sovereignty illegible or nonexistent, we are still able to find one another wherever we go. I have been heartened too by the non-Indigenous people who have joined us in celebration, reflection, and reckoning with the difficult histories of colonialism and genocide. If we are to heal, to find a way to live here together, these processes are indispensable. While renaming Columbus Day to honor Indigenous peoples will not do this alone, I believe it has created a new space to allow for such connections and work to begin.

ATTACHMENT TEN – FROM

SMITHSONIAN

UNLEARNING COLUMBUS DAY MYTHS: CELEBRATING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY

Last updated: October 30, 2020

Many students learn the phrase, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” But Columbus was not the first foreign explorer to land in the Americas. Neither he nor those that came before him discovered America—because Indigenous Peoples have populated the Western Hemisphere for tens of thousands of years. European contact resulted in devastating loss of life, disruption of tradition, and enormous loss of lands for Indigenous Peoples in the Americas. It is estimated that in the 130 years following first contact, Native America lost 95 percent of its population.

Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere immediately experienced enslavement and theft of resources by the explorers turned settlers. Colonies created by the Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, and English grew throughout the Americas and increasingly encroached upon Native lives and lands. Warfare, enslavement, and forced relocation disrupted and altered the lives of Indigenous Peoples in the Americas. Celebrating Columbus and other explorers like him dismisses the devastating losses experienced by Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere in the past and the ongoing effects of colonialism today.

Indigenous Peoples are still here. Contemporary Native Americans have led numerous movements to advocate for their own rights. Native people continue to fight to maintain the integrity and viability of Indigenous societies. American Indian history is one of cultural persistence, creative adaptation, renewal, and resilience. Native Peoples, students, and allies are responsible for official celebrations of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in such states as Maine, Oregon, Louisiana, New Mexico, Iowa, and Washington, DC. Indigenous Peoples' Day is celebrated on the second Monday of October and recognizes the resilience and diversity of Indigenous Peoples in the United States.

We promote including Indigenous perspectives, like those of the Taíno Peoples, to provide a more complete narrative when teaching about Columbus. We encourage students to advocate for Indigenous Peoples' Day as a replacement for Columbus Day in their school, city, state, and beyond.

ATTACHMENT ELEVEN – FROM BILL OF RIGHTS INST.

SHOULD COLUMBUS DAY STILL BE CELEBRATED?

35.5% yes

64.5% no

Columbus Day has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1937, commemorating Christopher Columbus’ 1492 voyage to the Americas. Supporters view the day as a celebration of exploration, historical achievement, and Italian American heritage. However, critics argue that Columbus’ arrival also marked the beginning of colonization, violence, and suffering for Indigenous peoples. In recent years, many states and cities have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day to recognize Native cultures and histories. The debate continues over whether Columbus Day should remain a national celebration or be redefined to reflect modern values.

Supporters of continuing to celebrate Columbus Day argue that it honors innovation and the human drive to explore the unknown. They believe Columbus’ journey symbolizes human curiosity, courage, and the spirit of exploration. Supporters also believe that the holiday recognizes Italian American heritage in the United States, serving as a positive symbol of pride for the community. Furthermore, they argue that Columbus Day is a long-standing national tradition, having been a federal holiday since 1937. They argue that eliminating the holiday could diminish a part of American cultural heritage.

Opponents of celebrating Columbus Day argue that the holiday represents a painful legacy for Indigenous peoples. They argue Columbus’ arrival sparked the beginning of centuries of colonization, displacement, and violence against Indigenous peoples. Critics argue that celebrating Columbus glorifies oppression rather than achievement and sends the wrong message to students about justice and historical accountability. Many advocate for replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day to honor Native cultures and contributions, which would allow for a celebration that unites, rather than divides, communities.

So, what do you think? Should Columbus Day Still Be Celebrated? Students can answer, “Yes, it should;” “No, it should not;” or a nuanced answer in between! Be sure to submit your responses by October 23 to be considered for this week’s contest.

PEANUT GALLERY

Current Standings

William from Massachusettsvoted yes

Columbus Day should still be celebrated because it recognizes an important moment in world history, the beginning of sustained contact between Europe and the Americas.

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Taylor from Massachusettsvoted no

Indigenous Peoples Day should be celebrated in place of Columbus Day because it's important to recognize the history of oppression towards native people instead of honoring the person who started…

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Sally from Floridavoted yes

Columbus day should not be something to be celebrated, let alone be renowned as a national holiday. Columbus was a bad man with an even worse treatment of those he…

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keelan from Georgiavoted no

It should not be celebrated since Columbus was a bad and evil person. He treated the native people terribly. Then second he wasn't even the first person to discover it.…

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Ashton from Massachusetts voted yes1 reply

I think that Columbus day should still be celebrated for two reasons. First, for its relevance in European and North American developments in farming and technology. The Columbian Exchange was…

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din from Georgiavoted no

no, as he wasn't even the first European to land in the Americas, let alone the indigenous, in fact vikings discovered America far before Columbus.

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Chris from Massachusettsvoted yes

I feel that Columbus day should still be celebrated because it is a huge part of the history of this country. People argue that since the natives were already on…

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kolbi from Floridavoted no

I think Columbus day should not be celebrated. Columbus brought slavery and celebrated colonization, which hurt native people and resulted in death. Indigenous day is much more respectful and should…

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David from Illinoisvoted yes

I believe we should still celebrate Columbus day. I agree with both sides of the argument, the importance of Columbus Day is one that cannot be overlooked as Columbus’s voyage…

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Leah from Ohiovoted no

Christopher Columbus may have found the land we now live on, but he was not the first to find the "new world." he was horrible and committed horrible acts.

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ATTACHMENT TWELVE – FROM USA TODAY

IS COMMEMORATING COLUMBUS DAY OFFENSIVE? WHY THE DAY'S NAMESAKE IS DISRESPECTFUL TO SOME

By Kinsey Crowley Oct. 8, 2023 Updated Oct. 9, 2023, 7:58 a.m. ET

Correction: an earlier version of this story misstated the number of years that Native Americans have lived on the continent. The correct number is 16,000.

Monday marks a holiday in transition, as more states and cities embrace Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of Columbus Day.

"On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor the sovereignty, resilience, and immense contributions that Native Americans have made to the world; and we recommit to upholding our solemn trust and treaty responsibilities to Tribal Nations, strengthening our Nation-to-Nation ties," President Joe Biden said in the 2022 Proclamation on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Despite the proclamation, Columbus Day is still a federal holiday. Pew Research shows the public, paid holiday is still exclusively celebrated as Columbus Day in 16 states.

Continuing to celebrate Christopher Columbus implies that we are ignoring the well-documented history of his atrocities, according to Reynaldo Morales, assistant professor at Northwestern University. He is a descendent of the Quechua peoples of Peru, and he teaches on American Indian, indigenous peoples' issues in the media, and covers environmental issues facing indigenous communities around the world.

"We know that in terms of Columbus' figure, Indigenous peoples have compared it to Hitler," Morales said. "Even though the story has some gory details, it's very important that we understand how celebrating Columbus Day is insensitive and what kinds of impacts it could have on Native Americans or indigenous communities today."

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS' VIOLENT HISTORY

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Many are taught that lesson early in American schools, but the rhyme leaves out the carnage that Columbus brought when he arrived.

Morales said that Columbus and his men brought a "scope of violence reaching the level of genocide that had no precedent in the large American continent before Europeans."

Here are some examples of the atrocities Columbus committed, as compiled by Philadelphia Magazine:

· Columbus cut off the hands of approximately 10,000 natives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic because they failed to provide gold every three months.

· He punished minor offenses by cutting off noses and ears.

· Columbus and his crew hunted natives for sport and released them to hunting dogs to be ripped apart.

· Columbus cut off the legs of native children who tried to run from them.

· He aided in sex trafficking nine and ten-year-old girls.

"We have no reason whatsoever — only because we ignore these facts — to celebrate the legacy or the figure of such criminal," Morales said.

WHY CONTINUING TO CELEBRATE COLUMBUS DAY IS HURTFUL

In light of the well-documented cruelty against Native Americans, Morales said that to celebrate Columbus Day is to say that the lives lost didn't matter. In fact, he also argued, the ripples of Columbus' actions are still present today.

Columbus used the Doctrine of Discovery to assert that the lands could be claimed because they were not already ruled by Christians. Morales said that this meant they began exploiting land and resources that had been managed sustainably by the people there for thousands of years.

"We can see these actions in the light of our contemporary laws and reflect on the understanding of the deep roots of inequality across the continent," Morales said. "We can see how they permeated into the notion of, for example, racial and economic privilege, that led to notions of white supremacy, the perpetration or racism now, and the different forms of ethnocentrism."

Part of the result is health, economic and disproportionate environmental impact for Native Americans, who have a lower life expectancy than members of other races.

Morales said that Native Americans had lived on the continent for 16,000 years, but their mainstream history has been characterized by the colonization that occurred in just the last 500 years. To him, this means there is a lot of hope for Native American communities' futures.

THE MOVEMENT TO CELEBRATE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY

Morales said that celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day means that we take a stand against the violence brought by colonization.

"By celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day, we collectively denounce Columbus's crimes as crimes against humanity," Morales said.

It is also a celebration of the contributions of Native American communities.

"By celebrating indigenous peoples, we highlight that the lives, cultures, languages, and knowledge of indigenous peoples in US and across a large continent that are at the core of our societies," he said. "Finally, we reflect on how indigenous peoples have emerged from the darkest chapters of US history, becoming becoming really one of the most important environmental stewards and leaders in biodiversity conservation."

ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN – FROM NATIONAL REVIEW

A DEFENSE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS ON COLUMBUS DAY

By John Hirschauer October 14, 2019 5:25 PM

The great Genoese explorer was not a perfect man, but his legacy has been unfairly tarnished by his revisionist critics.

‛Let those who are fond of blaming and finding fault, while they sit safely at home, ask, ‘Why did you not do thus and so?’” wrote Christopher Columbus in his Lettera Rarissima. “I wish they were on this voyage; I well believe that another voyage of a different kind awaits them, or our faith is naught.” The award-winning historian Samuel Eliot Morison, in his book The Great Explorers, translates Columbus’s parting shot into modern parlance: “In other words, to hell with them!”

“To hell with them,” indeed, who “sit safely at home” more than 500 years since Columbus’s voyage, casting aspersions on his legacy. With no education beyond years of private study of Marco Polo’s cartographic tomes, the great Genoese explorer set sail for the New World, to which he would bring a devout Catholic faith and respect, if checkered in its breadth, for those encountered in the Indies.

Columbus was not, as is well-known to the ungrateful modern-day legatees of his conquest, a perfect man. A famous example of his errant moral judgment was the exploitation of Native labor he sanctioned in Santo Domingo. It was markedly aberrant behavior from Columbus, who took well-noted pains to treat the Native peoples with basic dignity even as many of his contemporaries couldn’t be bothered. It also tends to be presented by Columbus’s critics shorn of its context: It was an ill-considered political concession he granted to La Isabela’s alcade mayor, Francisco Roldán, who had staged a revolt against the rule of Columbus’s brother, Bartholomew, whom he’d left in charge of Hispaniola upon returning to Spain from his second voyage to the New World. Roldán, having established a competing regime on the western side of island, used his newfound leverage to force Columbus to permit the exploitative labor practices upon the latter’s return.

The insubordinate Roldán would later be pardoned by Columbus’s successor as governor of the West Indies and foremost political adversary, Francisco de Bobadilla, whose salacious and uncorroborated allegations against Columbus would create the corpus of the modern revisionist’s attack on the explorer’s character.

Columbus, in spite of his many faults, was a man of character. His devout Catholicism informed his treatment of his fellow sailors, whom he enjoined in shipwide prayer every half-hour on the long journey from Spain to the New World. Even Bartolomé de las Casas, the “Defender and Apostle to the Indians” whose lurid, if hyperbolic, treatises on the treatment of Native peoples made him famous, spoke favorably of Columbus and his treatment of indigenous people. Columbus famously adopted a Native American boy and urged his fellow voyagers to exercise restraint and mercy toward the Natives, even, for instance, after they had burned down an entire Spanish settlement and killed all of the Spaniards in the area.

Such complexities — of warring tribes, alien cultures, and internecine Spanish disputes — were part of the reality that Columbus had to navigate. The commentator Michael Knowles aptly notes that Columbus may well have been the first man in history to engage in substantive diplomacy. Columbus himself described the harshness of life in the New World:

They judge me over there as they would a Governor who had gone to Sicily, or to a city or town placed under regular government, and where the laws can be observed in their entirety without fear of ruining everything; and I am greatly injured thereby. I ought to be judged as a Captain who went from Spain to the Indies to conquer a numerous and warlike people, whose customs and religion are very contrary to ours; who live in rocks and mountains, without fixed settlements, and not like ourselves; and where, by the divine will, I have placed under the dominion of the King and Queen, our sovereigns, another world, through which Spain, which was reckoned a poor country, has become the richest.

Contrary to the simplistic picture painted by academics, the indigenous cultures Columbus encountered were as assorted as those of any other peoples in history. While it might be true that some such cultures fit the nomadic, tranquil image pushed by the revisionists, not even close to all of them did. Which leads to an inevitable follow-up to those who would eliminate Columbus Day in favor of “Indigenous People’s Day”: Which “indigenous people” do you have in mind? Is it the Kalinago people, who ate roasted human flesh, with a particular affinity for the remains of babies and fetuses? Is it the Aztecs, who killed an estimated 84,000 people in four days in their consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan?

Be specific, please.

Columbus has become an ethnic symbol for Italian Americans, and likewise is an icon to many Catholics, who admire his devotion to and propagation of the faith. Indeed, faith was at the center of Columbus’s life and mission. He was a practical millenarian, supposing, per the anthropologist Carol Delaney, that his voyage would play a key role in facilitating Christ’s return and eventual seat on the throne in Jerusalem. When bound and captured on account of de Bobadilla’s smears, which he spent a lifetime refuting, he approached the Spanish crown in a habit traditionally worn by friars as an act of penance for his pride. His dying words, on the Feast of the Ascension, were: “In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum.” (Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit).

As Morison pointed out, Columbus “had his flaws and his defects, but they were largely the defects of the qualities that made him great — his indomitable will, his superb faith in God and in his own mission.” That will and faith make him a man worthy of this, the day on which we honor him.

ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN – FROM HISTORY.COM

COLUMBUS DAY 2026

Published: January 04, 2010 Last Updated: September 02, 2026

Table of contents

When Is Columbus Day 2026?

Christopher Columbus

Columbus Day in the United States

Columbus Day Alternatives

Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Columbus Day, a U.S. holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492, was unofficially celebrated in a number of cities and states as early as the 18th century, but did not become a federal holiday until 1937. For many, the holiday is a way of both honoring Columbus’ achievements and celebrating Italian-American heritage.

But throughout its history, Columbus Day and the man who inspired it have generated controversy, and many alternatives to the holiday have proposed since the 1970s, including Indigenous Peoples' Day, now celebrated in many U.S. cities, states and territories.

WHEN IS COLUMBUS DAY 2026?

Columbus Day 2026 occurs on Monday, October 12. The holiday was originally observed every October 12 but was changed to the second Monday in October beginning in 1971.

In some parts of the United States, Columbus Day has evolved into a celebration of Italian-American heritage. Local groups host parades and street fairs featuring colorful costumes, music and Italian food.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born explorer who set sail in August 1492, bound for Asia with backing from the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella aboard the ships Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria.

Columbus intended to chart a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. Instead, on October 12, 1492, he landed in the Bahamas, becoming the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings established colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland during the 10th century.

Later that month, Columbus sighted Cuba and believed it was mainland China; in December the expedition found Hispaniola, which he thought might be Japan. There, he established Spain’s first colony in the Americas with 39 of his men.

In March 1493, Columbus returned to Spain in triumph, bearing gold, spices and “Indian” captives. The explorer crossed the Atlantic to the Americas several more times before his death in 1506.

DID YOU KNOW?

Contrary to popular belief, most educated Europeans in Columbus' day understood that the world was round, but they did not yet know that the Pacific Ocean existed. As a result, Columbus and his contemporaries assumed that only the Atlantic lay between Europe and the riches of the East Indies.

COLUMBUS DAY IN THE UNITED STATES

The first Columbus Day celebration took place in 1792, when New York’s Columbian Order—better known as Tammany Hall—held an event to commemorate the historic landing’s 300th anniversary. Taking pride in Columbus’ birthplace and faith, Italian and Catholic communities in various parts of the country began organizing annual religious ceremonies and parades in his honor.

In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation encouraging Americans to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage with patriotic festivities, writing, “On that day let the people, so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life.”

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Columbus Day a national holiday, largely as a result of intense lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, an influential Catholic fraternal organization.

Columbus Day is observed on the second Monday of October. While Columbus Day is a federal government holiday meaning all federal offices are closed, not all states grant it as a day off from work.

COLUMBUS DAY ALTERNATIVES

Controversy over Columbus Day dates back to the 19th century, when anti-immigrant groups in the United States rejected the holiday because of its association with Catholicism.

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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY

The image of Christopher Columbus as an intrepid hero has also been called into question. Upon arriving in the Bahamas, the explorer and his men forced the native peoples they found there into slavery. Later, while serving as the governor of Hispaniola, he allegedly imposed barbaric forms of punishment, including torture.

Since 1991, nearly 200 U.S. cities, several universities and a growing number of states have adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a holiday that celebrates the history and contributions of Native Americans, alongside Columbus Day. The administration of President Joe Biden officially recognized Indigenous Peoples' Day in 2021, but it is not a federal holiday.

ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN – FROM THE LA TIMES

THE REAL REASON AMERICA IS STILL CELEBRATING COLUMBUS DAY

By Noé López Oct. 9, 2023 11:50 AM PT

It is quite an accomplishment that many people in the United States and South America still manage to remember a man who was lost at sea thinking he found a route to Asia and died not knowing he arrived at a different continent. If you think about it, Columbus Day isn’t really about celebrating Christopher Columbus; it’s about celebrating what he represents in terms of power and domination of a European empire — economics, politics, society — over a population across the ocean.

Why not forget about Columbus once and for all? In France, they do not celebrate the Mexican-French war. Why would the French celebrate the fall of the French Empire? It seems like the recognition of Columbus Day is a desperate need for Americans to feel European. It’s interesting how the lives of an entire population changed for centuries just because one Italian explorer thought himself to be in South Asia.

Latin American history is not as simple as Columbus Day makes it seem. It is much more complicated — you can’t equate the history of the Bahamas to that of Guatemala, Guyana or Uruguay. You cannot compare Buenos Aires with Lima or Caracas. America is much greater, braver and enlightened than one simple Oct. 12, because it had greater glories way before 1492 and built exquisite monuments and cities like the Egyptians and the Chinese did.

Voices

Essay: As a Oaxacan, living in Miami brought me closer to Mexico

Aug. 16, 2023

Columbus Day has become a political pawn positioned in American countries today to denigrate Indigenous people and to remind them that they are inferior to anything signifying European civilization. The discourse of inferiority began when Native people became “Indians” or “Indigenous.” The word “Indian” did not exist in the Americas until Columbus arrived. It is not only about the use of the word that is at stake here, but also what it signifies and the damage it has caused.

In Mexico, for instance, it can be used to denigrate Indigenous people and in turn, end up proving that Spanish imperialism remains in the everyday politics and culture of the people who inhabit the Americas. Of course, it is much more complicated than that. But this raises the question: Are Native nations and people in the contemporary American continent “Indian?”

Take it from a Mixtec nobleman who asked a Spanish conqueror the name of his king and the Spaniard said: “Don Felipe de Austria.” The Mixtec nobleman replied: “Then, that is the name I will take for myself.” Mixtec noblemen and noblewomen in colonial Oaxaca refused to be inferior to the Spanish and claimed their dynasties through marriage allegiances well into the independence of Mexico. They refused to be the “Indians” Columbus claimed to have discovered. They spoke Mixtec and Spanish fluently alongside Latin, dressed in Spanish fashions, constructed palaces and kept Mixtec hieroglyphs as proof of their nobility. But people do not teach that in school today.

Celebrating Columbus Day takes us a few decades back and not forward into the future. I dare to say that most of modern Latin America in the 21st century is over Columbus. I once jokingly asked an Ecuadorean man why Latin America has corrupt governments and he replied: “Corruption came from Spain. The Europeans brought it.”

Voices

Column: If not Spanish, what defines Latinidad?

Oct. 4, 2023

So, at what cost do we celebrate a man whose lost voyage caused centuries of exploitation of mineral resources, conquest and slavery — let’s not forget that European expansion in America also influenced the transatlantic slave trade. Why not forget about this man once and for all?

What is really being celebrated? Is it nationalism, civilization, conquest or science?

If we think about it in terms of science and exploration, the Mayans were exploring the universe with their own observatories long before Columbus arrived. Columbus was looking for India, yet the Mayans were looking for the planet Venus. They modeled their architecture and reinforced their government emulating the cosmos. So why not celebrate the Mayan astronomers who found Venus? Why not celebrate the Mayan kings who used astronomy and engineering to shape politics in their kingdoms?

Finding Venus sounds much more attractive and sophisticated than someone being lost at sea.

Columbus Day has become the residue of white supremacy. It is the justification of genocide. It is the justification of imperialism. It is the justification of slavery and the justification of Indigenous people’s so-called inferiority to Europeans.

Remembering the Tlatelolco massacre, and the questions that remain

Oct. 2, 2023

Honestly, such justification is quite outdated and relentlessly tiring to even bring up over the dinner table. It does not spark an interesting, cultured conversation anymore. Perhaps try something else — I suggest the current state of Latin American economies or the current president of El Salvador.

Now, those topics are really about the future.

Noé López has a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin and works in finance and digital banking. His writing and research focus on the socioeconomic development of his homeland, Oaxaca, Mexico. @noelpzoax

ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN – FROM AI OVERVIEW (LATIN AMERICA)

October 12 is no longer widely celebrated as "Columbus Day" in Latin America, but is instead observed as a day honoring indigenous resistance, cultural diversity, and mixed heritage. [1, 2]

Evolution of the Holiday

· Día de la Raza: Historically, October 12 was celebrated across Latin America as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) to commemorate the encounter between Europeans and Native Americans. [1]

· Decolonizing the Calendar: In recent decades, many Latin American countries have officially renamed and refocused the holiday to reject the colonial narrative and honor native populations. [1, 2]

New Names by Country

· Argentina: Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity

· Venezuela & Guatemala: Indigenous Resistance Day

· Bolivia: Day of Decolonisation

· Costa Rica: Day of Cultures

· Ecuador: Day of Interculturality and Multinationality

· Nicaragua: Day of Indigenous, Black and Popular Resistance

· Peru: Day of the Indigenous Peoples and Intercultural Dialogue [1]

If you'd like, I can share more about how a specific country marks this day or the history of monuments and protests surrounding October 12 in the region.

ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN – FROM EL PAIS (ENGLISH)

RACE DAY? DECOLONIZATION DAY? LATIN AMERICA HAS MANY NAMES, AND QUESTIONS, FOR OCTOBER 12

Over the last 30 years this date has become a topic of dispute between those who still defend the traditional view of discovery by Christopher Columbus and a growing number who reject it

by Julieta Sanguino

Mexico - OCT 12, 2023 - 09:57 EDT

In many countries in the Americas and in Spain, October 12, 1492 has long been commemorated, celebrated, and more recently, criticized. Controversy surrounds everything, from the name given to the day itself to the events and activities held to observe it. Known variously as Race Day, Day of Hispanic Heritage, of the Indigenous Resistance, of the Discovery of America, of Respect for Cultural Diversity, of Decolonization, of Liberation, of Interculturality, of the Meeting of Two Worlds, as Pan-American Day and as National Day, October 12 marks the moment when Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Guanahaní (later renamed San Salvador) when he glimpsed the Antilles.

The explorer from Genoa wanted to find another trade route to India that would bring better profits and territorial expansion. With 100 men and funded by Queen Isabel of Castile, in modern-day Spain, three ships set out on an unexplored course that caused them to arrive, by chance, in the Americas.

In an interview with EL PAÍS, the historian Federico Navarrete emphasizes the uselessness of this story that has been taught for years in Mexican schools, where children learned by heart the names of the three ships commanded by Columbus; the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa María.

“The teaching of this day in public education in Mexico is based on picturesque anecdotes,” says Navarrete. “I remember that as a child they made me learn the name of the three caravels. It is picturesque, but it is completely useless because Columbus did not even know that he had arrived in America, he died convinced that he was in Asia.”

This is reinforced by the studies of Sofía Reding Blase, a researcher at the Research Center on Latin America and the Caribbean (CIALC) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico: “Although Columbus arrived in the Caribbean on his first voyage and only on the last one did he reach the shore of the mainland, he never realized it or at least he never admitted to having reached territories that were not Asian.”

The story of Columbus’s discovery should also include the darker side of his personality, the voyage, and his companions. Navarrete notes, for example, that with him also came many Arabs and Jews whose existence has been erased from historical records. He also underscores that Columbus’ zeal was not only aimed at reaching the Indies but also capturing the natives. “They should tell us about all the slaves that Columbus captured from the first day he was in America. On the same October 12 that he landed on the island of Guanahaní, he himself tells us that he took an indigenous slave and took him against his will on his ship. In addition to learning about the boat, we should learn about the people who were enslaved on that boat,” he adds.

Celebrations and commemorations of this day have been observed for centuries. On the 400th anniversary, it was celebrated in unison in Spain and the Americas. A replica of the Santa María was shipped from the southern Spanish city of Huelva. Mexico and Argentina created a monument and a canvas respectively to celebrate the date. Colombia did the same with a statue of Columbus.

Later, in 1928, José Vasconcelos institutionalized October 12 in Mexico with the idea of showing the cultural syncretism that had been achieved from the meeting of the two continents. It also sought to highlight nationalist values and create pride centered on a mixed race heritage.

For years, resources were allocated to commemorate a European-centric vision of the event throughout the American continent and ceremonies were held to celebrate the union, but the Americas’ past and the conflict over resources and territory that marked Europeans’ arrival remained invisible.

The “discovery” began to be questioned a century later. In 1992, during the event’s 500th anniversary, questions were asked out loud and the concept began to fall apart. Miguel León Portilla writes: “Why is it said that Columbus discovered America? Hadn’t the indigenous people themselves discovered it long before and, over millennia, populated it and created cultures such as the Teotihuacan, the Mayan, the Mexica, the Inca? How is it possible to talk about discovery if Columbus was never aware of what the lands he arrived at were?”

The Westernization of America is no longer a matter of pride and instead researchers now talk about the genocide and invasion of American territory. Christianity has begun to be seen as an imposition in the face of the destruction of local beliefs.

Navarrete adds that “Latin American societies, especially indigenous peoples, openly questioned that vision of October 12 as a date to be celebrated, as a discovery, as a great triumph, and rather highlighted a more negative vision of October 12 that emphasized the idea of 500 years of colonial oppression, of genocide, of persecution of indigenous cultures. Clearly, what they are criticizing is not only what this Italian who came to America did, but the fact that from then on, national regimes were established that have been intolerant, racist, violent and colonialist.”

Questioned about what narrative should be built around this day, the historian assures that there are many more reasons to protest than there are reasons to continue maintaining a vision of history that is racist, that privileges whites and subordinates indigenous people. Navarrete says this narrative only benefits Spain, which claims to be the heir of those discoverers, and the white elites of Latin American countries who continue to believe themselves superior to the rest of the population.

“I think that many people in Latin America (and me in the first place) would not agree to calling this date Columbus Day, because in any case, Columbus was not even Hispanic, Columbus was Italian, and secondly, the result of what Columbus unleashed was many things in addition to a supposed Hispanic-ness. It was slavery, the genocide of indigenous peoples, the imposition of Spanish that eliminated many languages, and for me, it should not be celebrated that way.”

ATTACHMENT NINETEEN – FROM THE NATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN FOUNDATION (NIAF)

NIAF STRONGLY CONDEMNS THE RECENT ACTS OF VANDALISM AND DESECRATION THAT OCCURRED YESTERDAY AT COLUMBUS PLAZA NEAR UNION STATION IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

July 25, 2024 ·

A group of protesters, aligned with pro-Hamas sentiments, defaced the statue of Christopher Columbus and burned an American flag. These actions not only disrespect a significant historical figure for Italian Americans but also desecrate a symbol of our nation's values and freedoms. NIAF President Robert Allegrini stated, "We are deeply disturbed by these destructive acts. The defacement of the Columbus statue and the burning of the American flag are not forms of protected speech but acts of vandalism that undermine civil discourse and mutual respect in our diverse society."We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the National Mall and Memorial Parks Service for their swift and efficient response in cleaning the graffiti from the monument and removing the debris left behind. Their dedication to preserving our national monuments is commendable and deeply appreciated.

Comments

Diana Falco

They need to be put in jail!!

· 2y

George Enrico White

Deportation for these Stunads. Support for terrorist groups and anti- Italian and anti-Semitic behaviour is not democracy.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY – FROM NJ.COM

IS COLUMBUS DAY STILL RECOGNIZED IN THE U.S.? IT DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU LIVE

BY KATHERINE RODRIGUEZ PUBLISHED: OCT. 05, 2026, 6:00 A.M.

Columbus Day falls on the second Monday of October and will be observed on Monday, Oct. 12.

It has its origins in 1792 as a holiday celebrated by Italian Americans to honor Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and mark the anniversary of his arrival in the Americas.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt later declared Columbus Day as a national holiday.

However, a growing number of communities who don’t recognize Columbus Day in the U.S. even though it is a federal holiday where post offices close and federal workers get a day off.

In place of Columbus Day, some people celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which honors North America’s Indigenous peoples and tribal nations.

President Joe Biden designated Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a national holiday in October 2021 alongside Columbus Day.

Here’s where Columbus Day is observed — or not — in the U.S.

Where is Columbus Day recognized in the U.S.?

According to the Pew Research Center, 30 states and three U.S. territories recognize Columbus Day.

However, only 20 states and two territories make Columbus Day a state holiday for state employees.

Where is Columbus Day not recognized in the U.S.?

In 2019, Maine, Vermont, New Mexico and the District of Columbia began to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day in place of Columbus Day.

Delaware stopped observing Columbus Day in 2009, giving state workers a floating holiday that they can use on any day of their choosing, according to the Pew Research Center.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE – FROM WFMD (FREDERICK MD)

TRUMP TURNS 2020 STATUE WARS ON THEIR HEAD WITH COLUMBUS MONUMENT REVIVAL

The White House has installed a 13-foot statue of Christopher Columbus after the monument was torn down by rioters and tossed in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor nearly six years ago amid the 2020 riots.

“As we celebrate our Nation’s 250th anniversary of independence, the White House is proud to honor Christopher Columbus’s legendary life and legacy with a well-deserved statue on the White House grounds,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital on Monday of the new addition to the White House’s grounds.

The one-ton statue, spearheaded by the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, is part of the Trump administration’s America250 celebrations and sits on the north side of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

WASHINGTON MONUMENT TO BECOME ‘BIRTHDAY CANDLE’ AS US MARKS START OF 250TH YEAR

“These statues represent the inspiring historical progression of the American story and will stand as an eternal memorial to courage, adventure, and the noblest aspirations of the human spirit as well as the extraordinary pride of our wonderful Italian American community,” he said.

In the letter, President Trump also praised Columbus’ role in shaping the nation’s history.

WHITE HOUSE FIRES BACK AT CRITICS CALLING TRUMP’S MASSIVE ARCH ‘TOO BIG’

“Christopher Columbus was the original American hero and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the Earth,” he said. “Guided by steadfast prayer and unwavering fortitude and resolve, Columbus’ voyage in 1492 carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas—paving the way for the ultimate triumph of Western civilization less than three centuries later on July 4, 1776.”

“I am truly honored that this magnificent statue will now sit on the grounds of the White House,” he added.

In the wake of George Floyd’s death in May 2020, statues and monuments identified by rioters as “racist” were vandalized, toppled, and destroyed across the country. A George Washington statue in Portland, Oregon, was toppled and set on fire, while Confederate monuments in Richmond, Virginia, including those of Jefferson Davis and Williams Carter Wickham, were also targeted during the protests.

Russo, in coordination with the Italian American Organizations United, led the months-long project to honor “Italian American history and culture.” The original statue, unveiled in 1984 by Former President Ronald Reagan, was torn down decades later on Independence Day amid criticism over Columbus’ 1492 arrival and the deaths of millions of Indigenous people.

WHITE HOUSE TOUTS TRUMP’S ‘BOLD VISION’ FOR TOWERING INDEPENDENCE ARCH FOR AMERICA 250

Ingle added that the administration will continue its efforts to preserve Columbus’ legacy.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO – FROM NEWSWEEK

PORTLAND RIOTERS TOPPLE ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND TEDDY ROOSEVELT STATUES IN ‘DAY OF RAGE’ AGAINST COLUMBUS

By Samantha Lock Published Oct 12, 2020 at 06:27 AM EDT updated Feb 01, 2021 at 11:39 AM EST

Protesters took to Portland's streets on Sunday night to take down statues of former presidents in what they described as an "Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage."

The activists tore down statues of Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln and some protesters smashed windows at the Oregon Historical Society.

The group of about 200 kicked off the night by marching through downtown Portland at 8:30 p.m.

Trump to Go Ahead With ‘Law and Order’ Protest Amid D.C. Mayor’s Ban on ‘Mass Gatherings’

A bronze statue of Teddy Roosevelt officially titled "Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider," was torn down.

Some took a blowtorch to its base and splattered it with red paint, while others pulled with ropes until the statue fell at 8:51 p.m., Oregon Live reports.

Just one block away, the group descended on the Abraham Lincoln statue in Portland's South Park Block, pulling it to the ground just before 9.p.m.

The crowd then continued to the Oregon Historical Society, with some protesters smashing windows and storefronts and unfurling a banner that read, "Stop honoring racist colonizer murderers."

A mural on the attached Sovereign Hotel building depicting the Lewis & Clark expedition was also splattered with red paint.

Some could be heard chanting "kill the pipeline, save the land" and "no coastal gas link on Wetsuweten Territory."

Around 10:30 p.m. Portland police declared the event a riot and ordered the group to disperse.

In video footage posted online, police cruisers flooded the area as officers told those involved to leave.

Protest organizers promoted the event as an "Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage" ahead of Monday's federally observed holiday of Columbus Day.

Many states and cities now recognize October 12 as Indigenous Peoples Day after Columbus' arrival heralded the beginning of centuries of violence against Indigenous populations.

"We are calling for autonomous, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-fascist actions," the group's official website states.

"We will take the streets and we will take the waters and the forests. We will intervene in settler and resource colonial violence. We will defend our communities."

The group said they planned "creative direct action" which "could look like marches, occupations, blockades, street theater, it could look like anti-colonial messages spray painted on walls, it could look like monuments falling or taking on I.C.E. facilities, resource colonial corporations and their machinery".

In a video posted on Twitter from the night, one woman can be heard shouting: "We want our water protected. We want our land protected. We want our children protected. We do not want our children removed from their mothers anymore.

"We want the acknowledgement done that the boarding school system of the United States was a terrible, terrible mistake with terrible genocide."

Newsweek reached out to the protest event organizers and Portland Police for comment.

The demonstration is just one of hundreds of racial justice protests that have broken out across the nation following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, while in police custody.

Historic statues of Confederate and other prominent leaders have been targeted and toppled.

Protesters took to Portland streets in June to tear down a statue of George Washington, placing a sticker on the head of the statue that read "You are on Native land."

The same month a group of protesters pulled down a statue of Thomas Jefferson.

Both former presidents owned slaves during their lifetimes.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE – FROM CT.POST

CAN BRIDGEPORT FIND COMMON GROUND ON RETURNING COLUMBUS STATUE TO SEASIDE PARK?

Opponents, supporters begin talks over divisive monument

By Brian Lockhart, Staff Writer Aug 17, 2026

BRIDGEPORT — Six years after Mayor Joe Ganim had the 1960s-era Columbus statue removed from Seaside Park, can admirers and critics of the 15th-century Italian navigator find a path forward that results in the divisive monument’s return?

That is Dan Onofrio’s hope and goal.

“I believe it belongs in Seaside Park,” he said. “We can come up with a middle ground where it’s a win for everybody, and celebrate all cultures and all heritage. … It’s premature to say specifically what that is.”

For eight years, Onofrio has had the high profile job of running the Bridgeport Regional Business Council. But, he emphasized, his efforts around facilitating a statue resolution are about his heritage. He is grand marshal of the 2026 Columbus Day Parade and past president of Connecticut’s chapter of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America.

“I’m not representing the BRBC in this particular conversation,” Onofrio explained. “This isn’t a business issue.”

But it is definitely a thorny one.

Revived talk of the monument going back on public display at Seaside — it was abruptly taken down in July 2020 over unspecified threats of vandalism — is not surprisingly being met with stiff opposition.

“The statue was there a very long time,” she said. “It came down. It’s time to keep it down and put something up anew.”

Onofrio is hoping to arrange a meeting of various interested parties to discuss the statue controversy: “We’re not looking for a million people, but it would be nice to get the stakeholders for a roundtable so we can talk through where there might be some middle ground somewhere.”

Already earlier this month he was part of a small private huddle between a handful of leaders of both sides of the debate, including anti-Columbus Bridgeport Councilman Jorge Cruz, whose South End district includes Seaside, and pro-Columbus Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti.

It was Lauretti and some other members of the Bridgeport-based Circolo Sportivo Club that took custody of Bridgeport’s statue from the city in 2022 and who in recent weeks revived the statue debate. It became public they were plotting to unilaterally put the bronze historic figure back this month.

“We had a good meeting. Constructive,” Cruz recalled. “A little tense at the beginning. Some disagreement, but nothing disrespectful.”

And while he still opposes the idea of having Columbus return to Seaside or any municipal land, Cruz indicated if that happens, a plaque should be affixed to the statue that includes “the real story about him” and another monument added to Seaside honoring the Paugussett and/or Native Americans as a whole.

“Why not celebrate them, too?” agreed Onofrio.

“We got to come to some common ground,” Cruz continued. “Let’s have some meetings.”

For his part, Lauretti said, “It was a good meeting. We’re going to keep the dialogue going. It was important for both parties to understand each other’s position and how we can move forward together. … We’re having another meeting soon and will try to find some common ground where we can walk arm in arm publicly.”

That did not did not happen six years ago. Instead in July 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when divisive monuments around the country were essentially being canceled, Ganim abruptly ordered Bridgeport’s Columbus placed into storage.

Parks Commission members appointed by the mayor and Bridgeport City Council responded that they have sole authority over what happens on municipal park land. That board voted to have the statue returned and was initially ignored by the Ganim administration. Then in September 2020, the public facilities department began quietly moving ahead with putting Columbus back at Seaside, only to then reverse course, claiming there was no money in its budget.

Jump to 2022. The statue was still in storage, so the Circolo Sportivo Club was allowed to take custody. That organization recently raised funds to have it cleaned up, and Lauretti and a few others decided to try to reenergize the effort to restore it to Seaside.

As a result, this month Parks Commission Chairman John Hosier issued a stern letter emphasizing that nothing can be done at Seaside without his group’s authorization. He added that the board “intends to reevaluate this matter at a future date through its established public process.”

Last week Hosier said he was aware of Onofrio’s mediation efforts. Hosier wants the sides of the Columbus debate to take the initiative and present the Parks Commission with a practical compromise.

“A solid proposal that brings safety to our parks and safety to the statue,” Hosier continued. “We’re not going to move forward until we all feel positive in the action we’re going to take.”

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR – FROM ABC

STATUES OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS VANDALIZED IN MULTIPLE STATES AMID CONTROVERSY OVER THE HOLIDAY

Landmarks in both California and Rhode Island were painted red.

Statue of Christopher Columbus vandalized

In San Francisco, a Columbus statue near Coit Tower was also sprayed with red paint.

By Matt Zarrell October 14, 2019, 4:14 PM

Statues of Christopher Columbus were vandalized amid continued calls to change the name of the federal holiday honoring the Italian explorer.

Red paint, along with messages about genocide, were sprayed on landmarks in both San Francisco and Providence, Rhode Island, on Sunday.

The statue was also vandalized in 2010 and 2017, according to the station.

In San Francisco, a Columbus statue near Coit Tower was also sprayed with red paint. Graffiti at the bottom read, "Destroy all monuments of genocide and kill all colonizers." Supervisors in the city voted to change the holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day in January 2018, ABC San Francisco station KGO reported.

Police said they're investigating the incident, KGO reported.

Columbus Day observes the anniversary of the explorer's arrival on what is now the Bahamas on Oct. 12, 1492. Many Italian Americans honor their heritage on Columbus Day with parades and festivals.

However, in recent years, indigenous people and others have rallied against the holiday, claiming Columbus enslaved and murdered many indigenous people. There is now a growing movement to reclaim the day in honor of indigenous people and their unique cultures and contributions.

At least eight states and 130 cities have legally changed the holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day, including Wisconsin, where Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order on Oct. 7.

Other states are attempting to find a middle ground. Earlier this year, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt signed legislation recognizing the day as both Native Americans Day and Columbus Day.

Some have replaced Columbus Day with other titles related to the Native American community. Summit City, Ohio, selected "First Peoples Day" and Hawaii switched to "Discoverers Day."

The city council in Washington, D.C., passed emergency legislation last week to rename the federal holiday. For the change to become permanent, it requires congressional approval within 225 days, according to the city council.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE – FROM ABC

2026 CHICAGO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS PARADE SET TO STEP OFF MONDAY DOWNTOWN

Chicagoans are celebrating Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples' Day Monday.

Wednesday, October 7, 2026 1:29PM

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The 2026 Chicago Columbus Day parade steps off Monday.

It's set to take place from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. downtown Chicago, at Dearborn Street and Wacker Drive in the Loop.

Michael Tadin is serving as parade chairman, and Campania is the 2026 Parade Region of Honor.

This year's grand marshals are Lou Gramm, the original voice of "Foreigner"; actor and television personality Tony Danza; and Cristiana Dell'Anna, the star of the film "Cabrini."

The parade will aired on ABC7 Chicago and wherever you stream.

Chicago Public Schools recognizes Monday as Indigenous Peoples' Day.

Some reject Columbus Day due to the explorer's ties to the mistreatment of indigenous people.

Schools, government offices, libraries and the postal service are closed Monday.

See last year's parade here.

ATTACHMENT “B” – FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

COLUMBUS DAY, 2026

October 7, 2026

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

More than five centuries ago, Christopher Columbus embarked westward across uncharted waters and discovered the New World — bringing with him the rich traditions of Western civilization and paving the way to the birth of the American Nation less than three centuries later. Today, we honor his life of valor, adventure, and ingenuity. We cherish his memory and pledge to safeguard his story. Above all, we remember with gratitude that the triumph of freedom and the glory of our Republic are the fruits of his faith and unrelenting devotion.

In August of 1492, Columbus departed the shores of Spain to chart a new trade route to Asia. With his crew of about 90 men aboard the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María, for more than 2 grueling months, he pressed onward across the vast and unforgiving Atlantic Ocean — braving violent storms and treacherous waters. Through every trial, Columbus never wavered, holding his crew to the mission when most others would have turned back.

When Columbus and his crew made landfall on the islands of the present-day Bahamas, they first believed they had reached the shores of Asia. Instead, their voyage redrew the map of human possibility and opened a new chapter in the history of exploration. They unleashed a bold new age of discovery that expanded the horizons of knowledge, carried the splendors of the Western world across an ocean, and set in motion the forces that would culminate in the miracle of July 4, 1776. When they arrived, as a sign of devotion to God and respect to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Columbus raised a mighty cross in the newly discovered land as a sign that “Your Highnesses hold this land for your own, but chiefly as a sign of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ever since, this spirit of adventure has coursed through the veins of generations of patriots — from the brave settlers who established the first colonial foothold at Jamestown to the daring pioneers who pushed westward and tamed the frontier.

Today, we reaffirm that Christopher Columbus is a legend whose vision, fortitude, and perseverance unleashed a dynamic of history that led to the creation of the greatest, freest, and most just Nation in history. We are forever indebted to his courageous voyage, and we will never allow his legacy to be erased by radical extremists. For this reason, earlier this year, I was proud to install a statue of Christopher Columbus on the White House grounds — an exact replica of the statue that stood for more than three decades in Baltimore, Maryland, from its dedication by President Ronald Reagan in October 1984 until rioters tore it down and threw it into Baltimore Harbor on July 4, 2020. Now placed at the White House, this magnificent monument stands as a testament to the resilient legacy of one of history’s greatest heroes.

Columbus Day also holds special significance for our incredible Italian-American citizens. Like Columbus, they have embodied a steadfast love of country and faith in God, and they continue to strengthen our communities and propel our country to even greater heights.

In 1892, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ epic voyage, Pope Leo XIII published an encyclical hailing “the greatness of his mind and heart,” which “can be compared to but few in the history of humanity.” The Pope continued: Columbus “looked for a something greater and higher than did these others.” Today, as we celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World, we honor his unrivaled greatness. We embrace our duty to prove worthy of the inheritance he left us, to match his courage with our own, and to never abandon, forsake, or forget the beauty of our faith, the glories of our culture, and the stories of our heroes.

In commemoration of Christopher Columbus’ historic voyage, the Congress, by joint resolution of April 30, 1934, and modified in 1968 (36 U.S.C. 107), as amended, has requested the President proclaim the second Monday of October of each year as “Columbus Day.”

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 12, 2026, as Columbus Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. I also direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in honor of the great Christopher Columbus and all who have contributed to building our Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifty-first.

DONALD J. TRUMP

The DON JONES INDEX…