Should Columbus day be replaced with Indigenous Peoples' day?

For some people “Happy Columbus day” isn't a day of celebrating the discovery of America but is a remembrance of genocide and dispossession for Native American people. In recent years there has been more discussions on why we should remove Columbus day and replace it with Indigenous people’s day, so let's look at the facts.

First, why do we celebrate Columbus day? Is it because he discovered America? Because the truth is, he did not discover America and he was not even the first European to step foot in America. Leif Eriskon was the first European to reach North America nearly 4 centuries before Christopher Columbus did. This is all disregarding the Native American people that were already occupying these lands for at least 20,000 years. In fact, Christopher Columbus never even landed in North America. He landed in the Caribbean islands, particularly present day Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He wasn't even looking to discover this “New World”, he stumbled upon it when he tried to find a water route from Europe to Asia in which he failed because his calculations were way off base.

There are also multiple other reasons as to why people believe we shouldn't celebrate this “hero” our schools painted him out to be. This “hero” tortured, murdered, raped, and kidnapped innocent Native Americans. He tortured and killed thousands of Native Americans and sold as young as 9 to 10 year olds into sex slavery. He cut people's ears and noses off as punishment and demanded that they collect gold for him or he would kill them.

According to a study, following Christopher Columbus' arrival violence and disease killed about 90% of the indigenous population which is about 55 million people. He let his legacy on to initiating the trans-atlantic slave trade that was turned into a worldwide enterprise and made it the basis of the New World’s economic system.

Now why should we keep Columbus day? Supporters of Columbus day argue that Columbus day marks the opening of relations between the Americas and the rest of the world. It started the cultural exchange between America and Europe in which millions of European immigrants brought their art, music and science.