Each year before the second Monday of October, elementary students make paper ships, participate in scavenger hunts and sing songs about the three boats used in Spanish expeditions to celebrate a highly controversial holiday: Columbus day. While Americans cherish this holiday, schools and jobs should not recognize Columbus with a day off.

Columbus Day, a U.S. holiday, commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492. Prior to President Roosevelt making Columbus Day a federal holiday in 1934, Americans celebrated the disputed historic event. The holiday honors Columbus’ achievements and celebrates Italian-American heritage, but throughout its history, Columbus Day generated controversy. People have proposed alternatives to the holiday since the 1970s including Indigenous People’s Day, now celebrated nationwide.

The Italian explorer set sail in August 1492 aboard the ships The Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria, bound for Asia with backing from the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Columbus intended to chart the western sea route to the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. Instead, October 12, 1492, he landed in the Bahamas, becoming the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings established colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland during the 10th century.

Americans believe they should commemorate Columbus day with the day off because they view him as the father of the Americas, but in reality, he introduced the Americas to Western Europe during his four voyages. The true history of the land’s exploration stretches back long before Columbus even existed. Throughout the years, scholars have theorized people from Asia, Africa and Ice Age Europe may have reached American shores before him. Although no theory officially claims an explorer prior to Columbus’ arrival, the Americas already accommodated millions of Native Americans. Native Americans thrived in their lands with mass agriculture, self-defense with the use of stone tools, hunting and the development of villages.

“Christopher Columbus did not discover America. Indigenous People’s Day reimagines Columbus Day and changes a celebration of colonialism into an opportunity to reveal historical truths about the genocide and oppression of indigenous people in the Americas, to organize against current injustices and to celebrate indigenous resistance,” New York State senator Jessica Ramos said.

Columbus day disregards the people who lived in the Americas prior to his exploration and the atrocities Native Americans experienced from the Spanish and other European countries. After Columbus settled in the Americas, numerous Spaniards followed behind him and attempted to define the status of the Indigenous population through the establishment of the Encomienda System. Spanish adventurers and settlers extracted forced labor from Indigenous tribal chiefs in the Americas colonies of the Spanish Empire with the use of the system. In return, laborers received military protection from Europeans and were offered the opportunity to convert to Christianity by funding a parish priest.

In fact, Native Americans take offense to the holiday and have opposed the holiday in recent years. October 7, 2000, over 500 American Indian activists lined city streets in Denver, Colorado in a peaceful protest against Columbus during an Italian pride parade. The activists described Columbus as a slave trader who committed genocide against their ancestors. To make their point, they poured a line of red liquid across the parade route to represent their ancestors’ blood.

“I think it’s a terrible holiday especially for the Natives because they got their land stolen and for us to celebrate it is very rude. You can not discover a country that has already been discovered. They even spread all these diseases and colonized like crazy. For this to be a holiday just shows how corrupt the [executive branch] is,” senior Laniya Lucas said.