“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”. This elementary school rhyme is remembered, but in all honesty that was all I had remembered about it, not what happened when Columbus landed in the Americas. His voyage shaped the new world, the first major European to come to the Americas. We are a nation that is founded in historical conquest of land and power, but it was not without expense. My elementary rhyme did not address the colonization and brutal overhaul of the Native American people. Nowhere in my younger years’ memory did it include how the land was taken over, the spread of disease, slavery, torment and genocide. On the other side though, there was also a spread of heritage, culture, faith, courage and perseverance. What can it mean to acknowledge that there are different perspectives and experiences in history? What can it mean to realize that no matter what a day is called it can mean something entirely different to someone else? 

Perhaps we can look to other nations that had encounters with and commemorate Christopher Columbus’ influence. To see not as a day to glorify the methods of the merging of nations but allow us to take back and recognize the good that comes from sharing experiences from differing backgrounds. In most Latin American countries, the day is known as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race), recognizing the mixed Indigenous and European heritages.  Argentina refers to the day that Columbus landed in the Americas as the Day of Respect of Cultural Diversity.  In Belize and Uruguay, it is the Day of the Americas, meant to celebrate all the little Italy of the world. I really enjoy the translation of the day for Chile as Day of the Encounter of Two Worlds.  This is what the day means to me, a day where two worlds met and both worlds were changed, it does not have to mean a choice or a divide. There are so many debates and ways that we can make statements with the intent to start a fight, this does not need to be one of them.  

Whether the day is called Indigenous People’s Day, Columbus Day, Native American Day, Discoverer’s Day or just October 12^th to you, take a minute to think about what it means to you. What can it mean to take a day to acknowledge and respect the sacrifices and contributions that need to be made whenever different cultures come together?  To have a life of interculturality and pluractionality, a day to respect multiple backgrounds coming together.