By Michael Adkison
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Less than half of the U.S states recognized Columbus Day as a legal holiday in 2019, according to the Pew Research Center.
“Columbus Day, the second Monday in October, is one of the most inconsistently celebrated U.S. holidays,” Drew Desilver writes for Pew.
While the U.S. government recognizes the occasion as a federal holiday, most states either don’t recognize it, or they celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Many Americans cite Christopher Columbus’ history of violence against Native Americans as reason to not celebrate the holiday, as well as the fact that Columbus was not the first Westerner to discover North America.
“He came to the Antilles, and within forty-five years, the Taino either ran to the hills or were murdered,” Native American museum director Charlotte Buchanan-Yale said. “So, I don’t know why we celebrate Columbus Day.”
And this debate puts some organizations in a sort of gray area, including the University of Arkansas Post Office.
The United States Postal Service, part of the Executive Branch of government, took Columbus Day off, but the state of Arkansas did not recognize the holiday, meaning post office manager Doug Norwood and his employees were at work on Monday.
“There is an official U.S. postal service holiday,” Norwood said. “Express mail is delayed a day, as is all other mail.”
The city council of Washington, D.C., was the most recent territory to approve recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, with the mayor formally approving the holiday on October 8.