The American public’s opinion on Christopher Columbus and Columbus Day has become increasingly negative. A 2024 YouGov poll suggests that roughly 52 percent of Americans view Columbus favorably, but this number decreases with newer generations because younger adults are more likely to view Columbus unfavorably.
Let’s be frank about these shifting attitudes: nobody should be viewing Columbus as anything but a monster. Columbus effectively started the centuries-long genocide of Indigenous peoples and slavery in the New World, as well as the documented mutilation and rape of native individuals. Additionally, even if Columbus had been benevolent, he still never set foot in the continental United States — he first landed on the island of Guanahaní in the Bahamas — and therefore has virtually no relevance to U.S. history.
Still, many Americans refuse to let go of Columbus Day, and a significant portion of that demographic is Italian Americans. Growing up as an Italian American myself, I remember attending New York City’s annual Columbus Day parade, but amid a sea of red, white and green, one aspect of Columbus Day wasn’t really being celebrated — Columbus himself.
I now know that Columbus Day has never really been about Christopher Columbus, not in its origins or celebration. However, most people are still unaware of the events that led up to the holiday and how they reflect anti-immigration rhetoric that is still pervasive today.
To understand the reason behind its establishment, we must look back to a dark, often-forgotten moment in American history.
On March 14, 1891, one of the largest single mass lynchings in American history occurred in New Orleans, and you’ve probably never heard of it.
Following the shooting of police chief David Hennessy, he was asked who shot him, and in his dying breath, he reportedly whispered a slur for Italians. Outrage soon spread, and an increasing anti-Italian and anti-immigrant sentiment festered in The Big Easy (6). Hundreds of innocent Italian Americans were rounded up and thrown in jail. When these trials resulted in mistrials and not guilty verdicts, the public assumed the Mafia must have interfered and took matters into their own hands.
A massive mob broke into Parish Prison and proceeded to shoot the men and literally tear them apart. What was left of the 11 victims was hanged in the streets for all to see, while some rioters kept mutilated body parts as souvenirs.
Italy rightfully became outraged, and fearing growing tensions, U.S. President Benjamin Harrison denounced the violent act and decided to appease Italy by suggesting a holiday to celebrate Italians — Columbus Day (7), which finally was observed as a national holiday in 1937.
Thus, for Italian Americans, Columbus Day is not a day to honor Columbus, who was born in what is now Italy, despite later sailing for Spain. Instead, it is a day of resistance and celebration of Italian culture — a refusal to fully assimilate into a largely Anglo-Saxon protestant culture after immigration. And for those who know the true story, it is a day of mourning and remembrance.
At the same time, I do not want Columbus, a man who had no connection to Italian Americans or even really Italy, and is more pressingly one of the most despicable, vile men in history, to represent me.
My internal conflict lies in believing it is wrong to entirely erase the Italian identity from this day, while also recognizing that the racial landscape has changed: Italian Americans are no longer an oppressed group.
There is a far more urgent need to officially rename Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day and establish it as a federal holiday, given that Indigenous communities continue to face systemic oppression in the United States.
Still, the memory of the 11 innocent Italian men who were lynched should not be erased or forgotten in this process. While Italians today are not subject to the same racialized violence or discrimination, the lynchings were not only acts of racism but also of xenophobia — reflecting fears of outsiders that still echo in modern America’s anti-immigrant sentiment.
At a 2023 New Hampshire rally, President Trump said of immigrants, “They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done. They poison — mental institutions and prisons all over the world.”
This statement, just one of the many racist, xenophobic statements Trump has made over the years, relies on the same dehumanizing logic that New Orleans weaponized against Italians in the 1890s — painting immigrant groups as violent outsiders whose very presence threatens the moral and physical purity of the nation.
Recently, the Trump administration has intensified its crackdown on immigration, escalating both the frequency and violence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. On Oct. 3, 37 people were arrested during a raid on a Chicago apartment complex, leaving families torn apart.
One resident, Pertissue Fisher, told CNN that agents stuck a gun in her face. Another neighbor, Darrell Ballard, recalled seeing a Black Hawk helicopter overhead and military-sized vehicles surrounding the area and described the event as an invasion.
Regardless of personal opinions on immigration, we cannot deny people their right to due process or assume that all immigrants are here illegally or with harmful intent. When a society allows fear and prejudice to replace justice, the tragic consequences echo events like the 1891 lynchings.
Thus, this Columbus Day, I ask you to do four things: condemn Columbus; celebrate both Indigenous peoples and Italian Americans; fight for immigration rights; and tell the true story of the holiday.
Jordan Ori, a senior majoring in English, is Pipe Dream’s assistant opinions editor.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial.