Here’s why Indigenous People’s Day is a PC scam

Today is Columbus Day … er, Indigenous People’s Day. That’s the new name after a rash of politically correct city councils (including Seattle, Olympia and Yakima) decided it wasn’t okay to celebrate the rotten and genocidal Christopher Columbus. Instead, we should be focused on Native Americans, in recognition of the suffering they endured as a result of colonization.

The thing is, Indigenous People’s Day is a scam.

No one ever celebrated Christopher Columbus or his actions. We just enjoyed a rare day off from work (those of us lucky enough to get the day off). With a new holiday name, the same is true: No one is thinking about or celebrating Native Americans in any meaningful way. The activists who forced a name change don’t even care.

Do you think any of the mostly white activists give a damn about the issues facing Native Americans today? Do you think these mostly white people spend an iota of their year thinking about ways to help address Native American poverty rates? Do you think even a minority of the mostly white activists pretending to celebrate Native American culture ever stepped foot on an actual reservation where they weren’t there to enjoy a casino or buy fireworks?

These are activists who claim to stand for Native Americans, when in truth, they use Native Americans as props. That’s a shame because there are significant issues these activists could actually help with. But that would take hard work when they’re content to tweet out a hashtag so the world will identify them as “Progressive.”

But it’s not just laziness. This whole movement was never about Native Americans. It was an ideological statement against colonialism, which is actually something we should be thankful for. Our country exists today because of colonialism. The system of governance in place to change the names of holidays exists because of colonialism. It doesn’t mean what was done by Columbus should be celebrated or whitewashed. It doesn’t mean we should lie to students about the history of what actually happened. Quite the opposite: We should teach the truth and stop treating Columbus like a flawless hero.

But we should stop pushing forward a myth that we’re not better off as a country due, in large part, to colonialism. And if you’re feeling guilt over the treatment of Native Americans, perhaps you can step up and actually help their communities with substantive actions, not empty symbolic gestures? Just a thought.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz