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Considering my obvious Italian surnames, it may come as a surprise to some people that I support the San Francisco Board of Education’s recent decision to remove Columbus Day from its October academic calendar. The day will now be designated simply as Indigenous People’s Day. Both names had apparently been on the academic calendar for some time. Ma...

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Columbus Day became a Federal holiday in 1937.  In 1992 the City Council of Berkeley, CA declared October 12th the day of solidarity with Indigenous People's Day to protest Columbus historic voyages and travels and calling attention to the losses suffered by Native American peoples and their cultures.  Their premise is that Columbus’s discovery of...

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The decision to nix Columbus Day from the San Francisco Unified School District calendar last month came not with a bang but a whimper in The City. But the news apparently struck a chord with Italian Americans in Washington, D.C., who wrote a scathing letter Feb. 2 that singled out Board of Education Commissioner Matt Haney for his “particularly un...

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Some other area schools have changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Day, and now it is Williamsville's turn to tackle the topic. The school board has put the name change on the agenda for a vote next month, but at least four of the nine board members have signaled their opposition to the proposal. No matter how the vote goes, some board members are  tr...

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For this article I would like to address the controversial topic for Italian-Americans, “Columbus Day” vs. “Indigenous Day”. Over the last several years there has been a growing complaint by Native Americans that Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was a really bad guy, and that the nation should not celebrate his arrival in the new world. Also, the c...

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State lawmakers from Indian Country are asking their colleagues to help change Columbus Day to Montana Heritage Day. Rep. Bridget Smith, a Democrat representing the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in eastern Montana, pitched House Bill 322 in the State Administration Committee on Wednesday. She said Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, who claime...

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The Senate Committee on Government Affairs approved a bill Wednesday authorizing the governor to proclaim the second Monday in October as Indigenous People Day, replacing the traditional Columbus Day. Senate Bill 105, sponsored by State Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, follows other state and local governments around the country to shun the Columb...

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Columbus Day would be known as Indigenous Peoples Day in Alaska under legislation being considered in the state House. Columbus Day, which falls on the second Monday in October, is a federal holiday but not a state holiday. For the last two years, Gov. Bill Walker has proclaimed that day to be Indigenous Peoples Day. Democratic Rep. Dean Westlake o...

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Pepperdine University will remove a statue of Christopher Columbus from its main campus after students at the Southern California Christian school made multiple demands to take it down. Currently located above the university’s amphitheater, the statue will be relocated to Pepperdine’s campus in Florence, Italy, President Andrew Benton told the univ...

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In the face of controversy during recent years of what many people consider to be major atrocities against Native Americans surrounding Columbus Day, a state and national holiday that reveres Christopher Columbus as a national hero who discovered America, the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders has declared its support for a state Senate resol...

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