This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It's shameful that the United States continues to officially celebrate a national holiday in honor of Columbus, who, let us remember, said of the Arawak Indians he encountered on what are today called the Bahamas: "They would make fine servants. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."
Columbus' landfall in the Americas heralded the beginning of what would become a genocide against the indigenous peoples of this hemisphere. To honor him with a national holiday is an insult to people of good conscience everywhere.
In light of this, the Boy Scouts of America should desist from planting flags on people's front parkways on this day. Instead of inappropriately and insensitively promoting "Columbus Day," we should push to replace it with an "Indigenous People's Day," as numerous cities across the country have already done.
Jonathan Jensen
Salt Lake City