Public school students in New York City will not celebrate Columbus Day this year, the city’s Department of Education said Tuesday, making the Big Apple the latest city to back away from honoring Christopher Columbus — but amid criticism from some New Yorkers, the nation’s largest school district promised a combined mid-October holiday called “Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People’s Day.”
KEY FACTS
New York City public schools will still close on the second Monday in October, as it long has for Columbus Day, but the day has been renamed Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People’s Day in the calendar for the upcoming school yearthat the DoE released Tuesday.
When the calendar was initially put out, it referred to the date solely as Indigenous People’s Day, local outlets NY1 and Gothamist reported, angering some local politicians who called the name change insulting to Italian Americans.
DoE spokesperson Danielle Filson told Forbes the new, expanded name is designed to recognize both Italian Americans and Indigenous people (the district did not respond when asked whether the “Italian Heritage” part was added due to criticism).
Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters Wednesday the name-change process “wasn’t handled right,” but he still supports a dual holiday recognizing both Italian Americans and Indigenous people.
KEY BACKGROUND
Columbus Day has been federally recognized for nearly 100 years, but the holiday is increasingly polarizing. Many critics argue it’s inappropriate to celebrate Columbus, whose 15th- and 16th-century campaigns through Central America and the Caribbean Sea resulted in the killing and enslavement of many Indigenous people. This history has spurred several cities and states, including Vermont and the District of Columbia, to change the holiday’s name to Indigenous People’s Day. However, the holiday still has supporters, many of whom view the date as a recognition of Italian accomplishments (Columbus originally hailed from Italy, even though his voyages were organized at the Spanish empire’s behest).
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People’s Day will celebrate the contributions and legacies of Italian Americans and recognize that Native people are the first inhabitants of the land that became our country,” Filson wrote in a statement.
CHIEF CRITIC
“This is just another blatant attempt by City Hall to rewrite history while dishonoring so many of our citizens who are proud Italian Americans and cancel Christopher Columbus, who embodies the immigrant experience and discovery,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from the New York City borough of Staten Island, said in a statement Tuesday.
SURPRISING FACT
New York isn’t the only city to recast Columbus Day as Italian Heritage Day. New Haven, Conn., adopted the name last year, and Santa Barbara, Calif., began calling its mid-October holiday “Indigenous People’s Day and Italian Heritage Day” in 2018.
TANGENT
New York City will also back away from snow days next year. When severe weather prevents schools from opening, the district will hold virtual classes instead of cancelling school altogether, a shift enabled by more than a year of on-and-off remote classes due to Covid-19.
