By Bradley S. Hauff, Oglala Sioux

Since 1934, Columbus Day has been celebrated throughout the United States. In 1970 Congress designated the second Monday in October as the date. It is a federal holiday as well as one that is recognized in many states and local municipalities.

What is Columbus Day about, fundamentally? While it is commonly seen as a day to honor Italian Americans and their contributions to our country (which, in and of itself, is an appropriate and honorable thing to do, in my opinion), at its core is a narrative that extols the Doctrine of Discovery and its devastating effects on the Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere, millions of Indigenous people from hundreds of tribes who had been living in organized societies for at least 30,000 years, according to anthropologists.  It is a narrative teaching that none of this existed until it was “discovered” by those who believed they were given the right, by God, to capture and dominate the people and the land. It is a narrative teaching that these Indigenous people were heathens and that God was an absentee landlord of the Western Hemisphere until 1492.

Columbus Day is about a narrative of America, one that is rooted in the Columbus Discovery and Manifest Destiny mythologies, which go back to the Doctrine of Discovery, which had its origins in the Christian church. It is a narrative of European dominance, Christian dominance, and white supremacy. It justified slavery, land theft, and genocide. It continues today as the unacknowledged foundation for systemic racism. It is why many in the United States who are white supremacists also consider themselves to be Christians and don’t see any conflict in it.

Since the 1980s, as Americans have come to terms with the painful events of our country’s past, there have been calls for the discontinuation of Columbus Day as a national holiday and the replacement of it with Native American Day or Indigenous Peoples Day. As a Native person (Oglala Sioux, Lakota), I prefer the term “Indigenous” as it is more universal and does not include the word “America,” which many of us associate with colonization. Americans need to come to terms with their history and how it compares to the mythological narrative. To do this, we need to consider and take seriously the interpretations of past events from alternative perspectives. Abandoning the Columbus Discovery narrative is central to this. Replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day allows for the acknowledgment of Indigenous people in this country and what happened to us. It allows for truth-telling. It promotes an honest examination of our past. It dispels the myth and the atrocity of white dominance. It tells Indigenous people that we are not relics of the past, that we are very much still here, and we are a significant part of the American story. The church should be a central part of making this transition happen.  

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The Rev. Dr. Bradley S. Hauff serves as missioner for Indigenous Ministries on the presiding bishop’s staff.