Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt has signed legislation to combine Native American Day and Columbus Day into one singular holiday – but denied it ‘downsizes’ the event.
Native American Day was previously celebrated the third Monday of November in Oklahoma, while Columbus Day was celebrated on the second Monday of the month.
The Republican governor said “I think moving it to Columbus Day, I don’t see any downside to it at all,” as reported by AP.
Stitt continues “It just gives us one opportunity to celebrate Columbus, but also the indigenous people here in America.”
The move came after the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, a local council comprised of Cherokee,n Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, and Seminole peoples passed a resolution which urged Stitt to sign off on the bill.
Oklahoma’s population is approximately nine percent Native American.
Former governor Mary Fallin, also a Republican, had vetoed the legislation when it crossed her desk last year.
Despite this, the merge has not come without significant concern from Native American peoples, who view Columbus as not a heroic explorer, but as a coloniser who instigated years of genocide, rape, and slavery against the indigenous Americans.
Some believe there should be no Columbus day to begin with, but others praised the move as an equalizer, similar to how New Mexico and four other states had replaced Columbus day entirely with Indigenous People’s Day.
The Independent spoke to Kaitlin Curtice, an indigenous author and citizen of Potawatomi Nation on the role of Columbus Day in modern American society.
“The fact that it’s 2019 and cities are just beginning to really question Columbus Day is a problem that illustrates the erasure and ignorance of Indigenous peoples in the United States.”
Ms Curtice continues, “For Indigenous identities and experiences to really matter to the institutions of the United States, these institutions need to ask why things like established holidays or even monuments and statues can be problematic.”
“Our foundations are colonization. We cannot ignore this any longer, and every city that abolishes Columbus Day is taking one step closer towards that recognition”
