Why aren't Black Lives Matter disrupting Columbus Day parades?

[angus]

I didn't even realize it was Columbus Day until this.  It has literally zero impact on anyone's life.

My son was off school today.  Most of the other school districts did not, but the local school district gets the actual Columbus Day, October 12, off.  (I got a "columbus day" off, but it was Monday October 10, and not the real Columbus Day.)

[Mike Thick]

Holy crap, I remember BRTD doing this last year.

I've been here for a year.

[angus]

Holy crap, I remember BRTD doing this last year.

I've been here for a year.

haha.  I remember it a bunch of years.  Red has a hard-on for Columbus Day, no doubt.

I like holidays, myself.  Columbus Day by any other name would smell just as sweet, and since it causes less confusion to not change its name, I'd be okay with leaving it as it is.  I don't consider it a hot-button issue, however.  I would appreciate it if all the schools and employers would get their acts together and make up their minds to give us the same day off.  It's like Halloween.  It should be October 31, but the municipality in which I live always sends out some letter saying that the official trick-or-treat time will be from 6 to 9 pm on a certain day, and it might be October 29, or 30, or 31.  It's awfully confusing.  Christmas is always December 25.  New Year's Day is always January 1.  Valentine's Day is always February 14.  Bastille Day is always July 14.  I wish Columbus Day and Halloween were like that as well.  It makes planning easier.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Because it's Black Lives Matter, not Red Lives Matter.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Probably because Native Americans' rights activists are the ones doing most of the protesting over Columbus Day.  Ironically, the vast majority of people who are offended by Columbus Day (and Thanksgiving and the Redskins, for that matter) are white liberals, not NAs. 

While we're on the subject, allow me to articulate my feelings about Columbus Day.  I really don't think it's a particularly important holiday, and certainly not one that government employees deserve to get off.  However, I say that not so much out of political correctness as out of historical honesty.  Columbus did NOT "discover America" or prove the Earth was round like I (and so many other Americans, even of my generation) were taught in grade school.  Nearly every educated person in Columbus' day knew the Earth was round rather than flat; that little piece of mythology was cooked up in the stories of Washington Irving centuries later.  He didn't even reach the mainland of North America; he simply landed on an island that was already inhabited.  By logic, it is impossible to "discover" a land that is already inhabited.  Although he did sail off the coast of South America on a later voyage, he never reached mainland North America IIRC.  Nor was Columbus even close to the first European to set foot in the New World.  The Vikings reached the east coast of Canada some 500 years earlier (hence Leif Erickson Day), and there's some evidence that Caucasoids were among the first peoples to settle in the Americas along with NAs.  Ultimately, we will probably never know who the first European in the New World, although it's safe to say that real "discoverers" of America were the indigenous peoples.

That being said, I don't entirely understand the controversy over Columbus Day.  As far as I know, it's never been proven that Columbus advocated or participated in genocide against Native Americans (and no, I don't consider Howard Zinn to be a trustworthy source.)  And even if he did, it's ludicrous to blame America for those crimes, since Columbus was an Italian and not an American.  And the nations that colonized the Americas were all European nations, not Americans.  So if we are going to blame any nation for the crimes committed during the colonial era, it should be the nations that colonized in the first place, not America.  Plus, it's hypocritical to single out America when similar crimes against indigenous peoples were committed in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc.  Most people hardly know when Columbus Day comes nowadays, and even fewer of those that do know even care.  It's become little more than St. Patrick's Day for Italians, which is why I believe we should replace it with an Italian-American Heritage Day on the same date.  I'm not persuaded by the push for "Indigenous Peoples Day" since there is already a Native American Heritage Month in November.

[Mr. Reactionary]

because who care

Typical attitude towards the causes of Native Americans.  But a little surprising coming from you, who seems to champion the causes of marginalized groups.

I stand by it:  Native Americans are the most oppressed and mistreated group of people in the United States.  By a long shot.  And it is the dismissal of their historical and continued suffering by pretty much everybody else except those who live near or in those communities that keeps progress firmly under boot.

Because changing the name of an unimportant holiday will totally fix all their problems. Same with the Redskins logo or those 2 evil feathers on the William & Mary logo. And it also lets self-important white liberals feel like they made a real difference.

[SWE]

5)  Just stop, not everything has to be a controversy, nobody cares that much about Columbus Day.  Yet because it's such a boring, nondescript holiday, every columnist jumps to write about the "controversy" for lack of better topics, even though it's stupid.

Then why are you so mad?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Cities have Columbus Day parades? I never knew that.

[Ban my account ffs!]

because who care

Typical attitude towards the causes of Native Americans.  But a little surprising coming from you, who seems to champion the causes of marginalized groups.

I stand by it:  Native Americans are the most oppressed and mistreated group of people in the United States.  By a long shot.  And it is the dismissal of their historical and continued suffering by pretty much everybody else except those who live near or in those communities that keeps progress firmly under boot.

Because changing the name of an unimportant holiday will totally fix all their problems. Same with the Redskins logo or those 2 evil feathers on the William & Mary logo. And it also lets self-important white liberals feel like they made a real difference.

It's about actually bringing attention to their problems...something changing the holiday might help achieve. 

[angus]

It's about actually bringing attention to their problems...something changing the holiday might help achieve. 

Interesting idea.  I had not thought of it in that way. 

[muon2]

On the subject of celebrating a holiday twice, it happens in IL, too. The public calls the holiday on the third Mon of Feb Presidents Day since that matches much of the national advertising for the national holiday. But officially IL calls that day Washington's Birthday and separately celebrates Lincoln's Birthday on Feb 12. This year that was on a Fri and the following Mon was the Washington/Presidents holiday so it was a nice 4-day weekend. It's a bit more awkward when Feb 12th is mid-week, but this is the Land of Lincoln.

On the subject of the choice of day, Washington's Birthday is an interesting puzzle. He was born on Feb 11, 1732 when England was still on the Julian calendar. In 1752 England switched to the Gregorian calendar and had to skip 11 days to come into sync. Thus Washington's birthday became Feb 22, which is what it was in Rome when he was born. Since at various times in his life he celebrated both Feb 11 and Feb 22, picking the Mon between them as the federal holiday is probably as good as any other choice.

[Lyin' Steve]

1)  Columbus Day is more about the discovery of the continent than anything else Columbus did.  The discovery of an entire new world, one of the most significant events of the last 1000 years, is worth celebrating.  Nobody's running around celebrating the way he treated the indians.  It's day #1 of America.  Just like July 4 is about celebrating the birth of the nation and not whining about how some poor tories got lynched.
2)  This whole notion of holding historical figures to modern standards is getting really tiresome.  Soon they'll want to get rid of presidents day because Washington had slaves and Lincoln had both a public and a private position.
3)  We already celebrate the native americans on Thanksgiving.
4)  Suggesting we replace Columbus Day with some sort of minority group heritage day or celebration of a minor historical figure (usually selected to represent a particular minority group rather than magnitude of significance/accomplishment) is lame.
5)  Just stop, not everything has to be a controversy, nobody cares that much about Columbus Day.  Yet because it's such a boring, nondescript holiday, every columnist jumps to write about the "controversy" for lack of better topics, even though it's stupid.
6)  If you're gonna replace it with something, replace it with a day celebrating the moon landing.  That's an equivalently significant event and everyone can get behind it, until someone starts whining about how Buzz Aldrin was a Republican.  Too bad it's July 20, a poor date for a federal holiday, though.

It reminds me of all those people who write about how Valentine's Day is killing your self-esteem and "things to do when you're single on valentine's day" and "should we change valentine's day to be less offensive to ugly guys who can't get a girlfriend" articles that people write because they don't want to write the standard "6 ways to surprise your lover" puff pieces.  Not every holiday needs to be controversial.  Not every opinion needs to be edgy and nonconformist.  Not every column needs to be open-minded and revealing of the dark undercurrent of whatever.  Our holidays are fine.  Stop trying to pretend they're not to score clicks or edginess points.

Translation: I need an excuse to not think critically about the world around me so I can feel guilt-free.

You're right, I took the time to enumerate six different points of contention because I don't like to think critically.

5)  Just stop, not everything has to be a controversy, nobody cares that much about Columbus Day.  Yet because it's such a boring, nondescript holiday, every columnist jumps to write about the "controversy" for lack of better topics, even though it's stupid.

Then why are you so mad?

I'm not mad.  Just a bit tired of everything in America having to be a phony controversy.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

1)  Columbus Day is more about the discovery of the continent than anything else Columbus did.  The discovery of an entire new world, one of the most significant events of the last 1000 years, is worth celebrating.  Nobody's running around celebrating the way he treated the indians.  It's day #1 of America.  Just like July 4 is about celebrating the birth of the nation and not whining about how some poor tories got lynched.
2)  This whole notion of holding historical figures to modern standards is getting really tiresome.  Soon they'll want to get rid of presidents day because Washington had slaves and Lincoln had both a public and a private position.
3)  We already celebrate the native americans on Thanksgiving.
4)  Suggesting we replace Columbus Day with some sort of minority group heritage day or celebration of a minor historical figure (usually selected to represent a particular minority group rather than magnitude of significance/accomplishment) is lame.
5)  Just stop, not everything has to be a controversy, nobody cares that much about Columbus Day.  Yet because it's such a boring, nondescript holiday, every columnist jumps to write about the "controversy" for lack of better topics, even though it's stupid.
6)  If you're gonna replace it with something, replace it with a day celebrating the moon landing.  That's an equivalently significant event and everyone can get behind it, until someone starts whining about how Buzz Aldrin was a Republican.  Too bad it's July 20, a poor date for a federal holiday, though.

It reminds me of all those people who write about how Valentine's Day is killing your self-esteem and "things to do when you're single on valentine's day" and "should we change valentine's day to be less offensive to ugly guys who can't get a girlfriend" articles that people write because they don't want to write the standard "6 ways to surprise your lover" puff pieces.  Not every holiday needs to be controversial.  Not every opinion needs to be edgy and nonconformist.  Not every column needs to be open-minded and revealing of the dark undercurrent of whatever.  Our holidays are fine.  Stop trying to pretend they're not to score clicks or edginess points.

Translation: I need an excuse to not think critically about the world around me so I can feel guilt-free.

You're right, I took the time to enumerate six different points of contention because I don't like to think critically.

5)  Just stop, not everything has to be a controversy, nobody cares that much about Columbus Day.  Yet because it's such a boring, nondescript holiday, every columnist jumps to write about the "controversy" for lack of better topics, even though it's stupid.

Then why are you so mad?

I'm not mad.  Just a bit tired of everything in America having to be a phony controversy.

In other words, you prefer not to try to empathize with other groups of people that may feel differently over something, even if that something is symbolic? Part of thinking critically is actually considering why other people feel the way they do about Columbus Day.

Deeming things lame as adequate reason for not doing something also isn't really the epitome of thinking critically either. But please, go on.

[Simfan34]

Because their organization has a laser focus on black issues, which doesn't include Colombus Day.

Which would presumably come as relief to those suffering from the angst caused by their decision to wade into the whole Palestinian question, unless...

Changing the name ultimately might satisfy some people but it wouldn't solve the underlying problem. The only real solution would be for us to leave the country, and I (and I presume most of us) are not leaving, so there's not much that can be done, no matter how much restitution you might throw at the Natives.