BOSTON (WHDH) - As some celebrate Columbus Day, others are demanding the holiday be changed to Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
A Native American group led protesters through Boston Saturday, calling for the name change.
“We respectfully send you this message to understand why the honoring of Columbus, whose legacy is one of death and destruction, should not be celebrated,” one person said during the rally.
Attendee Mateo Rojas added, “For Columbus, it’s just such a monstrous man that has caused so much genocide and generational trauma that lasts until this day that established the system of white supremacy that we’re trying to dismantle, so when I see Christopher Columbus, it’s really a celebration of white supremacy, it’s not celebrating Columbus.”
The Italian American Alliance is pushing back against the name change, releasing a statement that read in part, “Because of Columbus, countless millions of people discovered a land of economic opportunity and untold numbers of others discovered a land of refuge from oppression at home.”
The group has said that they want to keep the Christopher Columbus statue, which was beheaded earlier this year, in the waterfront park in the North End.
Last week, the city announced that the repaired statue will be placed at the North End chapter of the Knights of Columbus where it will be publicly displayed.
Meanwhile, the Boston Arts Commission will create a new statue honoring Italian immigrants that will be placed at the spot where the Columbus statue stood.
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