I was perusing Aljazeera today to find something for this assignment and came across this story about the Seattle City Council voting to celebrate indigenous peoples day on the same day as the Federal holiday Columbus Day. Columbus Day is not a recognized State holiday in Washington and the people's representatives of Seattle have decided to celebrate native heritage right along with all the furniture and car sale extravaganza's. Their reasoning is that "Nobody discovered Seattle, Washington".
They also discuss the importance of native peoples in that area and the importance of recognizing their impact on the region. Additionally it is reasoned that the by enacting a simultaneous observance that they are not taking away from the Columbus Day, just adding to it.
I believe this reasoning to be cogent. It is important to celebrate people who have been in the area for hundreds of years. Columbus didn't discover Washington for the even the Europeans.
I read this article as well. I found it very interesting and I thought the author did a good job of exploring all side of the issue. I agree with you, the native people deserve recognition. After all, Columbus didn't 'discover' an empty continent. Native people had already been here for centuries. I'm not sure why we give him credit for 'discovering' America. It seems he just found what had already been found.
ReplyDeleteI can understand your ideas but if you look at the banner behind the protesters, you will see that they are asking to "ban Columbus Day" that seems like they are wanting to do away with it completely. I realize they didn't discover Seattle but it is part of America.
ReplyDeleteI like this idea, makes sense.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they just recognize Columbus Day in the first place. Something that is already in place? I mean, Columbus didn't discover Utah either but we celebrate it. Just seems kinds silly to me I guess. I guess, If I were a state employee I would LOVE it!
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