Columbus Day controversy lingers

WRITTEN IN GRANITE

The Nashua Riverfront Revitalization project is underway. In this older photo, the beloved sculpture La Dame de Notre Renaissance Francaise overlooks the city’s mill roots and history of Indigenous peoples who once occupied lands along the river. The sculpture, protected in a wooden case during construction, will re-emerge in the new park. PHOTO BY JOAN T. STYLIANOS

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This column is a bit late, but I was reminded of the recent “Columbus Day” holiday after reading about the second Kelly Ayotte/Joyce Craig debate sponsored by the Mount Washington Valley Economic Council last Tuesday. For weeks, the two gubernatorial candidates have been exchanging barbs leading up to November’s General Election, but there appears to be one area where they have found common ground.

Republican Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Joyce Craig would both agree to keep Columbus Day as a New Hampshire state holiday and support legislation to choose another day to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day. I like that idea; it’s fair, but others believe we should scrap the controversial Columbus Day from history and rename the holiday in honor of Indigenous peoples to celebrate Native American customs and heritage.

The state of Rhode Island recognizes both Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day on the second Monday of October. Presently, Columbus Day is a state holiday in 22 states and a federal holiday in 28 states.

It gets even more complicated because communities can “dump” the Columbus Day holiday and celebrate their own version of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. More than 216 cities nationwide have adopted the holiday in place of Columbus Day, according to a website called RenameColumbusDay.org. Here in Nashua, we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day (since 2020). I wasn’t even aware of the change.

The resolution read:

RESOLVED by the Board of Aldermen of the City of Nashua that in the City of Nashua, the second Monday in October will be known as “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”

FURTHER RESOLVED that any reference to Columbus Day will be understood to mean Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

However, House Bill 1014, signed by Gov. Chris Sununu in July, mandates all New Hampshire school districts and municipalities use a holiday’s statutorily designated title in “official communications, publications, and documents.” That law went into effect on Sept. 10. Still confused? I know I am.

I remember as a young child learning the popular rhyme “In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” In school, we were taught about the three ships (the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria) that left Spain on Christopher Columbus’s first voyage across the Atlantic to the New World. However, history books left out important facts that now challenge Columbus’s legacy. Some say that the Italian explorer was not the hero we were brought up to believe.

History.com featured a recent article looking at Columbus’s three-pronged controversy: “… the use of violence and slavery, the forced conversion of native peoples to Christianity and the introduction of a host of new diseases that would have dramatic long-term effects on native people in the Americas.”

In 1836, my city was named Nashua for the “beautiful river with a pebbly bottom” and/or “land between two rivers,” according to the Nashaway Indian dialect.

One thing’s for sure; no matter what the second Monday in October is called, many folks just enjoy having the day off. Thousands of visitors packed the trails on Oct. 14 for peak foliage viewing in the Granite State. Many sightseers weren’t prepared for the mountains’ single-digit wind chills. Some were wearing slippers and sandals, and others were in short shorts.

Gov. Chris Sununu was beaming. “New Hampshire is a tourism state. Bring us your crowds. We can handle it. It’s one of the busiest weekends of the year. It’s one of the best weekends that we have here.”