Russ's Ravings: Can The Chris Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Debate

Editor's note: The following is Patch Field Editor Russ Crespolini's, hopefully, weekly column. It is reflective of his opinion alone.

Those of us of a certain age have been raised with a certain, sanitized, version of history. For our purposes, although I loathe labels, most would identify me as Generation X.

This means we were the first generation told we would not do as well or better than our parents, we were handed the computer, the mobile phone, the internet and had to not only figure out what they were and how they worked but make them a part of our lives daily.

We were tossed high rents, economic turmoil, college debt and more. And we adapted. Sure, we became jaded, cynical and snarky as hell about it, but that was part of our charm. We are a generation of problem solvers. We work multiple jobs to make ends meet because hard work is what we were raised for. Boomers are our parents, after all.

But we also didn't have the skills to realize that perhaps we should have been working harder to change the system and not just our personal circumstances.

We also had the good sense to be appalled when we learned there were dark portions of our history that were being glossed over in our history classes. For me, I had assumed that I missed out because of deficiencies in my academic experience. My American History teacher in high school was a tenured, functioning alcoholic who came to class inebriated and blandly read from a text book that hadn't been updated in the modern age.

But I soon found out it was more widespread than that.

When I reached college I started to learn more about Christopher Columbus, his accidental discovery of this "new world" and what that wrought on the indigenous people. Assault, theft and disease.

I read about the horrific ways in which settlers manifest destinied their way across the continent and how a group of people who had lived here for centuries were now relegated to small patches of land and watched helplessly as the new stewards of America poisoned the very Earth they revered.

It sickened me. It made me promise to keep spreading the truth of what happened. That the image of a happy Thanksgiving and the term "Indian giver" had no place in civilized discourse.

Over the years more people have focused their animosity on Christopher Columbus and Christopher Columbus Day as a holiday. Celebrating someone who kicked off so much woe for so many seemed problematic. So a movement was started to celebrate the indigenous people who were so wronged with Indigenous People's Day.

But Columbus Day had become wrapped up in Italian-American pride. There were parades and celebrations and so an attack on Columbus Day became an assault on Italian-Americans.

And that did not go over well. Lest we forget that when my grandparents immigrated here at the dawn of the last century Italians were treated like garbage. In Madison, where my grandmother grew up, Italian kids were told to "walk on the other side of the street" by certain houses regularly.

And like so many immigrants before them, and those who could come after, they were blamed for every societal ill of that era.

So Columbus Day represented for so many a level of acceptance that was hard fought. On personal level, I never understood it. There are so many amazing Italians throughout history, why are we focused on the one who got lost?

But as surely as it is called sauce (it isn't gravy so stop it) attacks on Columbus Day took on larger meaning. As did the tide of those wanting to replace it with something honoring Native Americans.

We are never going to get these two diametrically opposed positions to meet. But we also don't have to codify them with a national holiday.

And there is a solution. Because there is something more important that Columbus Day or Indigenous People's Day.

Election Day.

So I propose we eliminate Columbus Day as a national holiday and replace it with Election Day. And here is why this works.

Those who want to celebrate Italian-American pride can still do so. Those who want to celebrate Native Americans can still do so. Those who want to celebrate both can still do so. Those who want to celebrate neither can still do so. And those who just want to have a day off can still do so.

They can just vote first.

This also allows for a real holiday on Election Day, which would improve turnout at the polls. And isn't participation what we want for Democracy?

So instead of fighting over the day and forcing people to celebrate your way, why don't we make it a holiday about choices. Your choice of government, your choice of representation.

And anything else you choose to add the itinerary is your choice as well.

Russ Crespolini is a Field Editor for Patch Media, adjunct professor and college newspaper advisor. His columns have won awards from the National Newspaper Association and the New Jersey Press Association.

He writes them in hopes of connecting with readers and engaging with them. And because it is cheaper than therapy. He can be reached at russ.crespolini@patch.com