San Francisco Renames Columbus Day ‘Indigenous Peoples Day’

For years, there’s been a growing cry from the PC left to either entirely disavow Columbus Day or rename in honor of the Native Americans that liberals believe Christopher Columbus murdered in cold blood. Well, in San Francisco they finally complained loud enough that they got their wish: On Tuesday, the city’s Board of Supervisors voted to officially rename Columbus Day “Indigenous Peoples Day.”

Supervisor Malia Cohen introduced the legislation, which reads, “San Francisco has a responsibility to oppose the systematic racism towards indigenous peoples in the United States, which perpetuates high rates of poverty and income inequality, exacerbating health, education, and social crises among Native Americans.” The measure passed by a vote of 10-to-1. The sole vote against the change was Aaron Peskin, who represents the historically Italian North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. Columbus was, of course, Italian, and many Italian-Americans have taken offense to the initiative to scrub Columbus from America’s history.

“This is an insult to the Italians who have done so much for the city of San Francisco,” Christina Olivolo, a member of an Italian Women’s club in San Francisco, said after the vote. She added that, while she was fine with removing Columbus’ name from the holiday and sympathized with the cause, she thought it should have been renamed as “Italian Heritage Day.”

Despite voting for the change, board member Norman Yee expressed hope that the board finds another way to honor Italian-Americans.

San Francisco, which was first urged to make the change in 2007, is not the first city to do so. At least 55 other cities, including Los Angeles and Minneapolis, have renamed the holiday in favor of Native Americans.

Do you agree with the decision to rename Columbus Day or do you think the controversy is overblown? Share your thoughts below.