Many Americans have come to know that the first people in America were the Indigenous People. By signing this petition, you show that you want the Town of Holliston to officially recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the day of Columbus Day, the second Monday of October. This will not just change the name of the holiday, but what we are celebrating. 

Well, who are the Indigenous people, and why are they worth celebrating? The Indigenous people are the people who were here before the European explorers and Columbus. We should celebrate them because they were here first and showed us not to be wasteful which is important with today's climate change, and global warming. For example, if they caught a fish, they would use all parts of the fish including the bones, skin, and flesh. This teaches us to not waste and throw away things that can be used, as with the abundance of materials in America, many have become accustomed to throwing away things.

In recent years, many communities, towns, cities, and states in the US have recognized and celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This is because most Americans have learned the truth about Christopher Columbus. He didn’t “discover” anything. The lands we now call the Americas already had thousands of people successfully living there. Christopher Columbus and his crew were violent, murdered people, stole natural resources, tortured people, and brought slavery to the native inhabitants. This man should not be a national hero. Instead, we should be learning about and honoring the groups who truly were here first.

Columbus Day was not even made by the people and citizens. It was made by Columbus's Knights and other leaders to honor him. The reason they did this was because, at the time, people from Italy were not appreciated and treated poorly. Columbus was Italian, though he sailed from Spain, and so the knights of Columbus and other Italian leaders wanted to show the importance of their country. As people from Italy are now not discriminated against, there is less need to only honor this group when people in the US come from all different places.

All around the United States, citizens are working to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.  In Maine, New Mexico, Vermont, Minnesota, Alaska, North Carolina, Hawaii, and South Dakota some form of Indigenous Peoples Day is already celebrated. In 21 other states, Columbus Day has simply been eliminated. 

For these reasons, we believe that we should recognize and honor this long-overlooked group and we should no longer celebrate a man who treated others so badly and unfairly. Help us restore the truth to Holliston and as a town start celebrating the people who were truly here first.