Trump Uncancelled The Uncancelled Celebration Of A Sorta Cancelled Genocider
Why the second Monday in October matters to me and why it should matter to you.
Since becoming president of the United States for the second time, Trump has been on a collision course with his personal version of destiny for the republic—reclaiming its globally dominant economy (a global tariff war), bringing back manufacturing jobs to the shores of America (uh, allegedly, tariffs, I think), tightening up the borders (tariffs, for sure, right, i mean, that’s what he said his reason for tariffs against us in Canada were originally), among other things like reinvesting heavily in its armed forces, dismantling the supposed bloated federal bureaucracy, and of course, the implementation of DOGE and Project 25.
Trump’s reclamation of America continues to lay waste to the "wokey woke" agenda of yesterday through his ongoing rejection of the leftist myths, lies, and omissions popularly shared through a “fake news agenda” and a so-called out-of-control "woke mind virus" under Biden.
He campaigned on many of the actions we’re seeing play out, so let’s stop acting surprised that he’s enacted tariffs and the like. If you were paying attention at all during Trump 1 or the Trump 2 campaign, you knew we were all in for a wild ride again.
What I didn’t have on my bingo card of US government priorities for this second term of Trump was the re-centring and celebrating of Christopher Columbus.
Late last month, Trump defiantly announced that he was bringing Columbus Day back from the dead by “reinstating” it.
Zombie Columbus. Cool.
And for the record, it was never cancelled as a federal holiday in America.
Indigenous Resistance, Since 1492
The mainstream push to “cancel” Columbus wasn’t just some ragebait, “wokey woke” pissing contest drawn along ideological lines. Indigenous resistance is nothing new—resisting genocide and confronting the ongoing harms of colonialism has been a steady, deliberate effort by Native Americans since, well, 1492.
Resistance to Columbus gained mainstream support in 1992, when commemorating a national Indigenous Peoples' Day began at Berkeley. Since then, the move to mark the injustices Indigenous Peoples have survived—and the call to improve the lives of Native Americans in America—has been a project that has seen minimal uptake from a country that has generally gone out of its way to ignore the plight of our peoples (RE: mascots, right?).
America(ns) has done a remarkable job of ignoring the Indigenous question for the last couple of hundred years.
When it comes to the government relationship between Indigenous peoples and their respective governments, the political and social responsibility question is very different in Canada and the United States. In Canada, generally, the Indigenous agenda, our art, music, popular culture, and yes, politics, is accessible and a part of the conversation in Canada. Not so in the United States.
Every ten years or so in the US, a story from Native America rises to the top; the story of the alcohol epidemic destroying communities in South Dakota comes to mind. The world pays attention temporarily, then looks away as quickly as possible, obfuscating itself of both the historical AND contemporary question of the social and political responsibility question that the mistreatment, dispossession, and colonization of Native Americans presents. It’s safe to say Native America is largely ignored in the US.
Telling the truth about how America was built is impossible if you refuse to see that truth. And make no mistake: a country that cannot bear to tell the truth about its past has no honest claim to a just future.
Eventually, the frustrations of the people boil over.
Obviously.
Toppling statues in America was mainstreamed after the George Floyd murder, when dismantling power, whether symbolic (statues) or state-sanctioned (cops), gained favour with those marching the streets calling for justice. This includes the call for justice in Indigenous communities.
The pressure to acknowledge Native America has built over the last number of decades. Occasionally, Hollywood, well, Leo DiCaprio in particular, gives a shout-out at a major award show, and Indian Country goes wild. We feel seen. This is why the breakthrough of Sterlin Harjo’s hit series Reservation Dogs is such a seminal moment for Native America. Finally, Native America went from simple recognition to major award shows and the consciousness of the mainstream.
The Spoils of Low-Hanging Symbolic Fruit
In 2021, then-President Joe Biden marked the second Monday in October as National Indigenous Peoples' Day. This was a good-faith effort to acknowledge the harms that colonization has had on the Indigenous Peoples of America. Biden says this effort was a way to “honor America’s first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations that continue to thrive today.”
We can argue all day whether it was appropriate—or even wise—to demarcate Indigenous Peoples' Day on the same day as Columbus Day, and I’m not here to do that.
Biden picked the low-hanging symbolic fruit of renaming a day to share some grace with the Native Peoples of these lands. Many states and even more cities have chosen to celebrate the Indigenous Peoples of these respective territories rather than host Columbus Day parades, though those parades are still going strong, too. It’s this progressive and dare I say, decent advancement of our society that is seen as a threat to white supremacy and its actually toxic ideologies.
Replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day is not erasing American history; it's rescuing it from mythology. Columbus, a man whose legacy includes enslavement and brutality, should never have been the symbol of a country that claims liberty and justice as its highest ideals. Right?
The second Monday of October should matter to everyone in America because, by acknowledging the suffering and now the resiliency of Native Americans, this country can actually hold its collective head just a bit higher. Intentionally making space to reflect on the treatment of Indigenous Peoples in America is a simple, decent thing to do.
Decency is something America could use a bit more of in 2025. Here’s to hoping more Americans push for an advancement of decency in their relationship with and to Native Americans.
By commemorating Indigenous Peoples’ Day, America doesn't erase history; it chooses to confront it with courage, humility, and a sense of shared humanity. Dare I say that is not woke overreach?
That is the very spirit America claims to stand for.
If Columbus stands for conquest and cruelty, then replacing his celebration is not cancelling America but rescuing it.
The second Monday in October is Thanksgiving. So we all get a paid day off to commemorate Invasion Day on Turtle Island!