Many outlets are reporting on remarks by Pres. Donald Trump, posting on his social media platform that,
I’m bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes. The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much. They tore down his Statues, and put up nothing but “WOKE,” or even worse, nothing at all! Well, you’ll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback. I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!
He’s correct, of course. But the headline from Axios reads,
Trump says he’s bringing back Columbus Day, but it never went anywhere.
Even though Axios has an outlet here in Minnesota, they appear to be unaware of the violence done to the celebration of the Italian explorer in the North Star State. Local website Bring Me the News brings us up to date, writing way back in 2015,
Columbus Day is a federal holiday, but it is not a state holiday in Minnesota.
Juneteenth is on the list, along with something called Indigenous Peoples Day (no apostrophe), celebrated on the second Monday in October. The current law reads,
However, for the executive branch of the state of Minnesota, “holiday” also includes the Friday after Thanksgiving but does not include Indigenous Peoples Day.
So it’s a holiday in Minnesota, but it’s not a holiday in Minnesota. To add more injury to insult, back in June 2020, during the George Floyd riots, protestors tore down the Columbus statue that had graced the grounds of the state capitol since 1931. The statue has its own Wikipedia page.
The Columbus statue allegedly still exists, in storage at an undisclosed location, like a certain artifact from the Indiana Jones movies.
In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
And I, for one, will never forget.
