President Trump made it clear on Sunday that he would not continue his predecessor’s practice of recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day in October, accusing Democrats of undermining the explorer’s legacy as he pushed his campaign to restore what he claims are traditional American icons.
Democrat Joe Biden was the first president to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day, issuing a proclamation in 2021 that praised “the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples” and acknowledged “their inherent sovereignty.”
The proclamation stated that America “was conceived on a promise of equality and opportunity for all people,” which “we have never fully lived up to.” That is especially true when it comes to protecting the rights and dignity of Indigenous peoples who lived here long before colonization of the Americas began.”
On Sunday, Mr. Trump declared on social media that “I am bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes.” He claimed on his Truth Social page that “the Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians who love him so much.”
He declared that he is “hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!”
During Biden’s term, the federal holiday, the second Monday in October, was known both as Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day.
It remained a federal holiday, and the former president made no changes to how or when Columbus Day is recognized in his proclamation, which directed that the US flag be displayed on all public buildings “in honor of our diverse history and the Indigenous peoples who contribute to shaping this Nation.”
Biden’s recognition had long been a goal of activists seeking to shift the focus away from Columbus’ voyage to the Americas and toward his and his successors’ exploitation of the indigenous people he encountered there.
Several years before Biden’s proclamation, some states and local governments, including Columbus, Ohio, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Austin, Texas, chose Indigenous Peoples Day over Columbus Day to commemorate victims of colonialism.
New York is one of many places that recognizes both names of the federal holiday, with Gov. Kathy Hocul recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day in 2021, and New York City continues to host the largest Columbus Day parade in the country.
Though Mr. Trump has long opposed telling the country’s history through the lens of diversity and oppression, the holiday he seeks to restore to prominence was added to the calendar in recognition of the country’s growing diversity.
Columbus’ expeditions never touched the North American continent, much less any land that is now part of the United States. However, as Italian immigrants flocked to the United States and politicians sought to gain their support, the Genoese native became increasingly celebrated.
Indeed, the lynching of 11 Italian-American immigrants in New Orleans in 1891 prompted the first Columbus Day celebration in the United States, which was led the following year by President Benjamin Harrison. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared Columbus Day a national holiday in 1934.
Mr. Trump has long complained about Democrats tearing down Columbus statues, which he reiterated in Sunday’s post. In 2017, he spoke out against a review of the 76-foot-tall statue of the explorer in New York’s Columbus Circle, which then-Mayor Bill de Blasio had requested. Other statues have been defaced or torn down, but this one is still standing.
In 2020, the Trump administration paid to restore a Columbus statue in Baltimore that was dumped in the harbor during protests against George Floyd’s police killing in Minneapolis.
Dozens of other Columbus statues across the country have been removed or are being removed, and many have been vandalized since the renewed Black Lives Matter protests began.
