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Abolish Columbus Day as a National Holiday

Target:
George Bush, President of the United States, United States of America
Sponsored by: 
We the undersigned propose that the United States Government discontinue the practice of celebrating Columbus Day as a National Holiday due to the racist nature of the holiday's origin.
We the undersigned propose that the United States Government discontinue the practice of celebrating Columbus Day as a National Holiday due to the racist nature of the holiday's origin.

We the undersigned propose that the United States Government discontinue the practice of celebrating Columbus Day as a National Holiday due to the racist nature of the holiday's origin.  Columbus Day should not be celebrated as a National Holiday due to the fact that many of the indigenous peoples of our nation find it culturally offensive.

We propose that Columbus Day be replaced with a National Holiday such as Native American Appreciation Day, Cultural Awareness Day, or another such holiday which would spread brotherhood and equality throughout our nation. 

People could choose to celebrate Columbus Day in their own homes.  For example, many people celebrate Saint Patrick's Day or Groundhog's Day; however, these are not National Holidays.  National Holidays should be days that may be celebrated by all citizens of the United States, regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual preference, or any other distinguishing characteristic.

Though this petition was originated in 2005 and at that time addressed to George Bush, it will be delivered to the appropriate U.S. president at the time we reach 500,000 signatures.  So, to our president, thank you for taking the time to read our petition.  We appreciate the time you are taking to read this and any action you take.

(Though we do appreciate the comraderie of our foreign friends, please only sign this petition if you live in the U.S.  Foreign signatures will be deleted.  If you are an expatriot, please note this and state where in the U.S. you are from so that your signature is not deleted.  Thank you!)

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We signed the "Abolish Columbus Day as a National Holiday" petition!
# 241:
10:28 am PST, Nov 3, Name not displayed, Florida  Report Signature Report abuse
Yes, it is offensive alway as Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, Independence Day, there are a host of others which invaded and occupy of lands today. If your country or tribe, participated in genocide against anyone they shall be held accountable. Abolishing a day made for a colonist and conquistor, is not enough. Let's set the Record strait on all corrupt organizations from federal to county.

Choctaw International Foundation NGO

# 240:
11:57 am PDT, Oct 18, Alyssa Brown, New Mexico  Report Signature Report abuse
yess i do. i honestly dont know who came up with such a horrible holiday. GET RID OF IT!! Or at least honor the people that had to go through that crap with columbus...
# 239:
6:58 pm PDT, Oct 15, Timothy Fowler, Florida  Report Signature Report abuse
I do I am an American Indian
# 238:
3:58 am PDT, Oct 13, Rochelle Shepherd, Michigan  Report Signature Report abuse
I absolutely find Columbus Day offensive. He's not a hero. He's as much a villain as Hitler or Stalin or Hussein. We shouldn't celebrate the lives of men or women who advocate/d genocide, slavery, and/or racism. If I had learned in high school what Columbus' 'discovery' had actually meant, I might've spoken up sooner. As it is, now that I know, I can't keep silent. He was a villain. Not a hero.
# 237:
1:41 pm PDT, Oct 12, Emily Yanez, California  Report Signature Report abuse
# 236:
7:52 am PDT, Oct 12, Travis Woolridge, Michigan  Report Signature Report abuse
How do you discover a place that had millions of people already living there. celebrating Columbus day is celebrating the genocide of many. PUT AN END TO IT.
# 235:
5:25 am PDT, Oct 12, Theresa J Monson, Pennsylvania  Report Signature Report abuse
I do find Columbus Day offensive, because people already lived here when Columbus came...so how can someone discover a land with people here already....I also feel it is the day the would soon lead to the fate; which the slaughter of the indigonuos peoples of this land...The Native American Genecide.
# 234:
9:14 pm PDT, Oct 11, Clara Canas, South Carolina  Report Signature Report abuse
Yes I agree with all of u, why do we send our children to school if they are just learning lies? When you think of Hitler you think of the terrible things he did and the people he killed but when most people hear Columbus they think of him discovering America because American schools have brainwashed people so that this country wont look bad. God forbid that the "Great country of The United States" would ever do anything wrong! (sarcasm)

Cherokee

# 233:
8:09 am PDT, Oct 10, Ron White, New Hampshire  Report Signature Report abuse
Saying that Columbus discovered America is like saying that Neil Armstrong discovered the moon.
# 232:
11:10 pm PDT, Oct 9, Heather Webb, New Jersey  Report Signature Report abuse
This is a "holiday" that is absurd for many reasons, the most important being the "celebration" of a man whose actions amount to little more than mass murder. Also, since when has anyone celebrated it? To 99% of the population in the U.S., it is a day off from school or work, nothing more. How can you justifiably call this a holiday when that is all that it means to people?
# 231:
5:49 pm PDT, Oct 9, Jennifer Lawrence, Indiana  Report Signature Report abuse
# 230:
4:03 pm PDT, Oct 9, Shweta Narayan, California  Report Signature Report abuse
# 229:
10:15 am PDT, Oct 9, Elizabeth Barrette, Illinois  Report Signature Report abuse
I find Columbus Day offensive because it glorifies greed, violence, slavery, racism, and genocide. I have been saying this for 30+ years and it's nice to see the opinion echoed by other people. Just because I happen to look European doesn't mean I sympathize with their abominable behavior.
# 228:
8:27 am PDT, Oct 9, Kenneth Adams, New Hampshire  Report Signature Report abuse
Being Cherokee from the NC mountains I can only amagine what life would be like today, had the dumbass sailor named Columbus been intelligent? We might all be hunters and farmers caring about all creatures big and small. After all, God made them all, who are we?!
# 227:
11:27 am PDT, Aug 27, Patty Renault, Colorado  Report Signature Report abuse
To celebrate Columbus day is to celebrate the cruel slaughter of many lives. Point 1. Columbus DID NOT discover America. You can't discover something that is already occupied. Point 2. He's a murderer & a slaver. You might as well create a holiday for Hitler if you insist on celebrating Columbus, can we say Genocide?

Turtle Mountain Chippewa

# 226:
8:30 pm PDT, Jun 17, Amanda Taylor, Florida  Report Signature Report abuse
# 225:
10:37 pm PDT, Jun 1, Brian Henderson, Pennsylvania  Report Signature Report abuse
I find that holiday and Thanksgiving offensive too. Considering all that has happened.
# 224:
5:05 am PDT, May 25, Kenneth Andersen, Norway  Report Signature Report abuse
# 223:
9:57 am PDT, May 20, Kristine Mccullen, California  Report Signature Report abuse
# 222:
8:57 pm PDT, Apr 9, Stephanie Bebber, Maryland  Report Signature Report abuse
I'm a 24 year old female, 75% Native American, Navajo and Cherokee. It bothers me that all this time has gone by and the US Indians don't have a national holiday when there is MLK day and black history month, along with most races. But WE WERE HERE FIRST! It seems like everyone has just almost forgotton about the best race in the world...the native american!!!!

Navajo and Cherokee :)

# 221:
5:13 pm PDT, Apr 3, Name not displayed, Canada  Report Signature Report abuse
i find it very offensive because i am part native and i beileve that it isn't right to celebrate the geneicide of millions of natives that had never had contact with anyone from the outside world. i am taking a native studies class and i beileve that it is wrong and columbus did not discover the america's because it was already inhabited here. if they want to continue to celebrate it they can but it is proving that we can celebrate geneicides of millions of people. it woould be like celebrating the holucost and i don't think that a lot of people would like that. i know that me as only one person can not change the world but it is people like me who like to voice their opinions and want to be heard. let people think that columbus was a hero but most of us know that he isn't and i think that we should not have columbus day at all. thank you for you time.
# 220:
9:29 am PDT, Mar 26, Mary Brooks, Kentucky  Report Signature Report abuse
# 219:
3:51 pm PST, Jan 19, Joseph Daniel, Oregon  Report Signature Report abuse
I do not take offense to it, but I do think it is very inappropriate. Instead the day should be used to reflect on the history of this continent's indigenous peoples. Berkely, CA celebrates indigenous people's day instead.
# 218:
7:21 pm PST, Jan 3, Colleen Kweder, Pennsylvania  Report Signature Report abuse
# 217:
4:50 pm PST, Dec 16, Alanna Magill, New Jersey  Report Signature Report abuse
# 216:
4:06 pm PST, Dec 16, Name not displayed, New Jersey  Report Signature Report abuse
yes i do.

Mohegan

# 215:
7:26 pm PST, Nov 24, Leonard Martinez, California  Report Signature Report abuse
yes very offensive
# 214:
7:04 am PST, Nov 8, Leann Hansell, Kansas  Report Signature Report abuse
Christopher Columbus was a Racist, A slave Trader, and a Murderer! Why should anyone celebrate him? This country is made up of many diffrent nationalities, we are ONE PEOPLE! And should not celebrate racisim, or anyone that is a racist!

I am a woman of Cherokee descent, I however do not have tribal affiliation at this time. I do honor all of my bloodlines and have respect for them all. The Native people of this country are the 1st Americans, and should be honored as such!

# 213:
8:20 pm PDT, Oct 19, Eric Miller, Ohio  Report Signature Report abuse
# 212:
11:23 am PDT, Oct 14, Judy Calder, California  Report Signature Report abuse
Yes, the visit (not discovery) to the North American Continent by Columbus was the first step in the demise of the natives people. I grieve instead of celebrate every Columbus day

Ojibwe-Bad River Band-Wisconsin

# 211:
9:00 am PDT, Oct 14, Nancy Lasner, Washington D.C.  Report Signature Report abuse
# 210:
10:27 pm PDT, Oct 13, Jessica Hovey, Minnesota  Report Signature Report abuse
Yes
# 209:
5:06 pm PDT, Oct 13, Name not displayed, North Carolina  Report Signature Report abuse
Yes

Part of my heritage is Lumbee

# 208:
10:12 am PDT, Oct 13, Michael Calder, New York  Report Signature Report abuse
Yes
# 207:
8:57 pm PDT, Oct 12, Mary Ridings, North Carolina  Report Signature Report abuse
It celebrates the man who did nothing but stumble upon some islands and kill lots of indigenous people.

Cherokee

# 206:
4:01 pm PDT, Oct 8, Name not displayed, California  Report Signature Report abuse
I find Columbus Day extremely offensive and informative to the children of the U.S. Columbus can not discover something that people had already found. By celebrating Columbus day, we are celebrating the first terrorist. If we keep teaching our children that Columbus was the first to discover america than we should teach that he is to blame for the acts of genocide that followed for generations. The children should know the truth. There is still theories that another spanish galeon land in Ca. before any where else.

I am proud to say that I am a member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation.

# 205:
7:39 am PDT, Oct 8, Stephen Weber, Rhode Island  Report Signature Report abuse
Yes
# 204:
2:06 pm PDT, Sep 7, Dalia Hettfield, California  Report Signature Report abuse
# 203:
8:07 pm PDT, Sep 5, Cindy Minde, Arizona  Report Signature Report abuse
# 202:
11:16 pm PDT, Aug 26, Ethan Shattuck, California  Report Signature Report abuse
# 201:
2:43 pm PDT, Apr 25, John Branham, Kentucky  Report Signature Report abuse
Would Jewish citizens find an Adolf Hitler Day offensive? Yes, it is very offensive!!!

Beaver Creek Native American Tribe, The Lenape Indian Nation of North America.

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