Time to get rid of Columbus Day holiday?

Columbus Day is here again, and still inspiring parades and celebrations and a day off for certain workers, so it’s time, once again, to remind everyone why it is so bizarre and embarrassing that we have a national holiday in honor of Christopher Columbus.

Over at the quirky web site The Oatmeal, they have not only put together a devastating critique of Columbus and his brutal ways, they have also suggested an alternative – renaming Columbus Day Bartolome Day.

“Huh,” you say? Keep reading.

The Oatmeal offers this to establish credibility:

“All of the information in this essay came from A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn, and Lies My Teacher Told Me,by James W. Loewen, both of which use primary sources such as eyewitness accounts, journal entries, and letters from Christopher Columbus himself.”

Their conclusion is this:

“I know that the discovery of the New World means a lot of different things to a lot of different cultures. I like the sound of Bartolomé Day. If you don't like that, call it Indigenous People's Day. Or perhaps Chris-Columbus-was-a-turd Day. I'd even settle for just calling it MONDAY.
But please, oh please,
do not call it Columbus Day.”