Tired: Columbus Day. Wired: Indigenous People’s Day. At least, according to Democratic presidential contender, Kamala Harris.
Harris, appearing at a town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., on Monday was asked by an audience member if she supported changing the name of the federal holiday—a movement that has gained a lot of traction in recent years.
“Sign me up,” Harris responded, according to BuzzFeed News.
Originally intended to honor Italian-Americans, Columbus Day has faced vocal opposition from Americans who say the holiday honors a genocidal historical figure. And indeed, it is a historical fact that Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas brought devastation to indigenous peoples across the continent through disease, war, slavery, and subjugation.
So yeah, one could say we’re due for a name change.
A number of cities and states have already opted to sub out Columbus for a holiday honoring indigenous people, including several cities in Harris’ home state of California (among them, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz).
During the same town hall, Harris reiterated her support for Medicare for All, a plan that would replace private insurance with a single, national health insurance program, the Green New Deal, and making election day a federal holiday.