The holiday formerly known as Columbus Day | Opinion

By Ellen S. Wilkowe

It’s the first holiday weekend of what is shaping up to be consistent in-person school.

Our district sends weekly COVID-19 reports and the kids — well, at least mine — seem to be taking the mask mandate in stride. Masking has become my daughter’s new normal as well as her ticket back to the classroom, which has rekindled her secret love-hate relationship with in-person school.

As a parent, consistent in-person school in and of itself is cause for celebration — that is, hoping I didn’t speak too soon. So, wait. Why are we having a three-day weekend again?

Oh, right.

Today, Monday, our school district will be closed in honor of — drum roll please — staff training. Meanwhile, kids all over town will be — another drum roll — sleeping in and/or hitting the malls.

The second Monday in October has been tweaked on many school calendars to circumvent — and I take a lead from the late artist Prince — to be known as the holiday formerly known as Columbus Day. Like Prince’s new name, Columbus Day has become somewhat of a symbol, too, a symbol of controversy as we continue to explore and reconcile some unsavory truths regarding our nation’s past.

The revelations that Columbus enslaved, forced labor and coerced natives have resulted in districts like Newark trading in Columbus Day for Indigenous People’s Day. Other districts, like mine, went neutral, canceling Columbus in favor of staff training.

This brought to mind the Randolph Board of Education, which attempted to erase all holidays from its school calendar last June. That act sent parents into such a frenzy that the district reversed its decision and restored all holidays to their factory settings, including Columbus Day.

School closures aside, the holiday formerly known as Columbus Day has become synonymous with shopping, as retailers proudly boasted Columbus Day sales. What will this year look like?

In response to the news of this three-day weekend, my daughter overheard me asking a friend what she was doing on “the holiday formerly known as Columbus Day.”

This naturally piqued her interest. “What did he do that was so bad? I just know that he discovered America.”

As did I, and that was back in the 80s when school calendar holidays were accepted in their traditional Christian-based and patriotic glory: Labor Day. Columbus Day. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Easter. The Jewish holidays were acknowledged if the district actually closed for them, and at the time, mine did. As did my daughter’s this year.

In trying to explain the dark side of Columbus I tread lightly on delicate ground. After all, I was dealing with an 11-year-old.

“Well, he wasn’t very nice to the natives,” I offered. “He was actually downright cruel.”

(Really? That was the best I can do?)

“Why?”

“Well, we can ask that about a lot of historical figures who had a dark side to them.”

In conducting my own research, and I would confirm that what I told my daughter was true. He was downright cruel to the natives, in terms of enslavement, forced labor, coerced religious conversions and slave trade.

Sure, we were told that he discovered America — by accident — but our education failed to mention the Vikings who established the first European settlement in Greenland, hundreds of years before the birth of Columbus. However, Oct. 9 has been set aside as Leif Eriksson Day, though that day has yet to be acknowledged on school calendars yet.

As we reveal more dark sides to our past, I am experiencing a loss of innocence when it comes to answering my daughter’s persistent “whys” truthfully.

In my watered-down attempt at administering critical race theory at home, I have tried to turn the angst of the last five years into learning opportunities vs. losses of innocence. Black Lives Matter. White Supremacy. Racism. LGBTQ. We dissected them all, sometimes with her bestie in tow, who often drops random comments on said subjects through the eyes of her Tik Tok account.

She never did get around to Columbus Day, though, which brings up yet another conundrum. How will my daughter and I spend Staff Training Day?

Perhaps, sleeping in and hitting up the mall for sales is an order.

After all, Christmas, er, the holidays are right around the corner

Ellen S. Wilkowe is a freelance writer, mom and yogi. She lives in Denville with her husband, daughter and tuxedo cat.

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