Happy holiday– or not

Well, another Columbus Day has rolled around. Not much of a holiday, is it? It’s a federal holiday, but many states in the west and south don’t observe it to begin with. If you look at a map, it appears to have been most widely adopted in states with a significant Italian-American population. Boston still has a parade. It was yesterday, but I had other things to do so I didn’t go.

I’m all in favor of ethnic pride, but our Italian-American friends may want to rethink tying their pride to Christopher Columbus.

A number of states – and a lot more cities – have switched from Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day. And I’m down with that.

In Massachusetts, Cambridge, Somerville, Amherst, Brookline and Northampton have made the switch. Interesting that both Cambridge and Somerville, while pretty woke cities, do historically have a lot of Italian-American residents. And it’s on the legislative calendar to make the change statewide, which may be an uphill battle, but you never know…

Last year, in my post I came out in favor of swapping out Columbus Day for Indigenous People’s Day. (We all know how much sway my opinion holds…) And I still wouldn’t mind seeing an Immigrants Day, which I originally thought would be a good replacement for Columbus Day. Maybe we can start celebrating immigrants on Thanksgiving? Kind of citing immigrants as something we’re thankful for? And the Pilgrims were early-on immigrants…

Me? I’ll be quasi taking the day off. Then again, that’s how I roll most days.

Whatever you’re celebrating today – or not – happy holiday – or not.