Quote Originally Posted by EastsideAl View Post
the question remains: why in the hell are we still celebrating Columbus Day?
My guess is that it was a political sop to emerging Italian-American voters. One could argue the same about MLK day. Given immigration trends, someday we might have Cinco de Mayo and an Muslim holiday added to our calendars.

from Wikipedia - "Many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, the first occasion being in New York City on October 12, 1866. Columbus Day was first enshrined as a legal holiday in the United States through the lobbying of Angelo Noce, a first generation Italian, in Denver. The first statewide Columbus Day holiday was proclaimed by Colorado governor Jesse F. McDonald in 1905, and it was made a statutory holiday in 1907. In April 1934, as a result of lobbying by the Knights of Columbus and New York City Italian leader Generoso Pope, Congress and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed October 12 a federal holiday under the name Columbus Day."

Anyone want to blame Columbus Day on Roosevelt? Were Columbus Day just about the EurAsian discovery of America, Bjarni Herjolfson might be the first recorded discoverer. However, there are indications that unnamed Irish and Chinese discoverers preceeded him. I would vote in favor of an Indigenous People day over Columbus Day but since Native-Americans came over the Bering Strait in at least seven waves, which one came first? Like the Europeans, those later waves of settlers who came across the Bering Straits were invaders too.