Five New York House members — including progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman — are being accused of spreading “hate” by pushing to scrap Columbus Day.
The group of five Democrats, which also includes Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Grace Meng and Gregory Meeks, are co-sponsoring legislation to change the name of the federal public holiday to “Indigenous People’s Day.”
An Italian-American civic group says it’s a slap at their heritage and at the legacy of the discoverer of America.
“We seek to preserve our heritage, celebrate the contributions of Italian Americans and honor the great achievements of Columbus. And we support a holiday for the recognition of indigenous people,” Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Heritage Coalition said in an e-mail blast to supporters.
“Sadly, five members of Congress from New York want to divide our communities by cosponsoring legislation to strike down Columbus Day and Italian American culture. This hurtful action must not move forward,” he said.
“Call upon these lawmakers to drop the hate, seek the truth and withdraw their sponsorship of HR 5822.”
The bill — H.R. 5822 — simply states: “To designate Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a legal public holiday and replace the term `Columbus Day’ with the term “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.’”
The controversial 15th Century explorer has fallen out of favor in recent years with critics who note Columbus committed atrocities against Native Americans during his voyages.
“Italian Americans have made enormous contributions to our nation, and we have to continue honoring this outstanding legacy, regardless of how one may feel about Christopher Columbus. We should also support a day to recognize indigenous people,” Meng, who reps a large swath of Queens said in a statement Monday.
“There should be a way to equally celebrate both, and it doesn’t have to be limited to just one day. I’ll always support paying tribute to Italian Americans. Italian Americans and indigenous people both deserve a day of their own.”
None of the other congress members were immediately available for comment.
But Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of The Bronx and Queens, said as early as 2018 that she would back replacing Columbus Day with Election Day as a national holiday.
“How is Columbus Day a holiday but not Election Day? I am willing to compromise by eliminating Columbus Day to give Election Day off,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement on then-Twitter, now X.
The culture wars over Columbus have raged on since.
The Post reported that even some Roman Catholic universities no longer refer to the federal holiday as Columbus Day on their academic calendars.
Meanwhile a new report claims that Columbus was a sephardic Jew, not an ethnic Italian from Genoa as originally believed.
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