To the editor:

As we observe Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we should consider a fundamental question: What does it mean to celebrate America while honestly confronting its history?

The United States is a nation built on powerful ideals: liberty, equality, and the belief that every person deserves dignity and respect. Yet our history, like that of every nation, includes both extraordinary achievements and profound injustices. Recognizing both expresses our commitment to the principles that make America worth celebrating.

Diversity recognizes that the American story includes many peoples and perspectives. Equity asks us to confront historical barriers and consider how their effects continue to shape opportunities today. Inclusion ensures that people whose experiences have been overlooked are recognized as participants in our shared national life.

For generations, Christopher Columbus was presented in American schools and public commemorations as a symbol of exploration and discovery. That familiar narrative overlooked the Indigenous peoples who had inhabited the Americas for thousands of years before his arrival, as well as the devastating consequences that European colonization brought to Indigenous communities.

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day challenges us to tell a more complete story. Let’s study Columbus’ historical significance and acknowledge the human consequences of colonization and the resilience, past and present contributions of Indigenous peoples. Let’s ensure our understanding of history, our public institutions, and our national identity reflect the experiences and contributions of the peoples who make up our society.

Indigenous nations are subjects of distant historical chapters; they are also living communities across this nation and here in Rhode Island with distinct cultures, languages, governments, traditions, and rights. Their contributions to agriculture, environmental knowledge, art, literature, and American society deserve recognition alongside the contributions of every other community that has shaped our nation. In New England, we have many streets and sites named after Pokanoket leaders, often without understanding that the Pokanoket tribe lived here for thousands of years. Massasoit Ousamequin welcomed Roger Williams to the tribe’s lands in 1636 and granted him permission to settle what became our Ocean State. 

The debate over Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day is about more than a name on a calendar. It’s about whose experiences are remembered, whose contributions are celebrated, and whether our national story has room for historical complexity. Let’s take pride in America without pretending that every chapter of our history reflects our highest ideals. Let’s discuss historical injustices in ways that help us learn how and why we arrived at today and how to envision and create a more just tomorrow.

Rather than rejecting American culture, we are deliberately strengthening it by celebrating Indigenous People’s Day.

Alex Horvet

Barrington 

Jonathan Leviss MD

Barrington

Alex Horvet is a member of the Barrington Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, and Dr. Leviss is chair of the committee.