Demand the state of California replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day
California State Legislature
Join us in urging the state to officially replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day in California.
While we have a Governor’s proclamation, we deserve a deep commitment -- and that means getting this change codified in the legislature.
Raise your voice to let California’s State Legislature know that you would like Columbus Day to be permanently removed and replaced with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
California is home to the largest state population of Native Americans in the country. It is also home to millions of Indigenous peoples from Mexico and Central America.
Keeping Columbus Day on the state registry of holidays sends the wrong message about who we should hold up as our heroes. Christopher Columbus’ legacy is one of violence -- including enslavement, dispossession and exploitation of Indigenous people in the Americas.
Without this decisive legislation, school districts will continue to be emboldened to celebrate Columbus Day. We hear countless stories of our children being forced to confront celebrating the holiday in their schools, and as a consequence, suffer emotional harm. Celebrating Columbus Day as a holiday creates an unwelcome and toxic learning environment for Native American and Indigenous students throughout the state.
“Instead of commemorating conquest today, we recognize resilience,” Newsom’s proclamation reads. “Home to one of the largest and most diverse populations of Indigenous peoples anywhere in the United States, California is a better, stronger and more vibrant place because of them.”
It’s time that we get rid of Columbus Day, and the harmful legacy associated with it, and officially replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. At least eight states and more than 130 cities observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Add your name and urge the California State Legislature to join the movement to uplift the diversity and resiliency of Indigenous Peoples.
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To:
California State Legislature
From:
[Your Name]
I strongly urge the California State Legislature to adopt Indigenous People’s Day on the second Monday of October and officially abolish the designation of that day as Columbus Day. By doing so, the state will be granting Indigenous peoples the rights that all Americans deserve – the right to feel safe, respected and included as part of this country’s cultural and historical legacy.
It is not enough that Governor Gavin Newsom declared the second October Indigenous Peoples Day in California in 2019, through a Governor’s proclamation. It is not codified in the legislature, and we urge you to act now.
California is home to the largest state population of Native Americans in the country. It is also home to millions of Indigenous peoples from Mexico and Central America. We ask that you are accountable to your Indigenous constituents, and permanently remove this holiday from the state.
The notion that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas is historically inaccurate. Rather, Columbus is a pivotal figure in the large-scale genocide and colonization of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. That he was a cruel man with little regard for the value of human life is clear from his own writings.
At least eight states and more than 130 cities observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It’s time for California to officially join this growing movement to reject the legacy of Columbus and join the movement to uplift the diversity, resistance and resilience of Indigenous Peoples.