by Tara Houska
"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Every year, school children across the United States will learn this poem; each October, federal employees will get a day off to honor a man who never stepped foot in North America but is widely associated with its alleged discovery.
Over the past few years, however, Columbus Day has become a holiday wrought with contention. Efforts to repeal Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day have spread acrossseveral major cities. Now, Congressman Joe Salazar, a Democrat in the Colorado House of Representatives, intends to take it a step further.
