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- THE GUY WE SHOULDN’T BE CELEBRATING Here’s a statue of Columbus in Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy.
At a Seattle City Council committee hearing this afternoon to pass a resolution calling for an Indigenous People’s Day on the same day as Columbus Day, a group of Italian Americans showed up to protest. A man in a green shirt who asked that I not print his name said he interrupted the proceedings, yelling across the room toward the table where Nick Licata, Kshama Sawant, Bruce Harrell, and a group of Native Americans were discussing the measure.
Then another man, Jeff D’Amelio of North Seattle, said: “We came here with the intention of supporting Indigenous People’s day, but this is a divisive movement.”
In an interview afterwards, D’Amelio described himself as Italian-American and agreed that there is a historical consensus that Columbus committed terrible crimes. But he insisted that Indigenous People’s Day should be on a different day—not something that in any way replaces Columbus Day, which is still a federal holiday. (The text of the council resolution calls for the second Monday in October to be “Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Seattle.”) He also hedged about actions “attributed to Columbus,” though there is a resounding historical record.
Mayor Ed Murray has said he wants to sign the resolution on October 13.