Media Item 2

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_5057891
A new name for Columbus Day?
By Julia C. MartinezDenver Post Editorial Board
Article Last Updated: 01/21/2007 02:45:17 PM MST

The ongoing battle over the Columbus Day Parade has moved from the street to the state legislature.
Democratic Sen. Suzanne Williams is considering legislation to change the Columbus Day holiday in Colorado.
Colorado was the first state to observe the holiday in 1905. It's now a federal holiday, which will be observed on Oct. 8 this year. American Indians have long protested Denver's parade celebration, saying Columbus did not discover America and was neither a hero nor a role model.
Williams is a registered member of the Comanche tribe of Oklahoma. She says the various factions of the American Indian community are "ready to move beyond protesting." Williams said she is talking with government leaders and studying options for legislation.
"One option is to change the Columbus Day holiday in Colorado," she said, which could "possibly" involve changing the name. "All Nations Day" has come up before. Another option is to change the "parade structure" to have an event "of many cultures." She hopes to engage the people of Colorado "as we look at the reality that Christopher Columbus did not discover America."
So far, Williams hasn't engaged the Italian-American community, which has been protective of the annual Columbus Day celebration. Pam Wright, state president of the Sons of Italy, said, "It's really sad that people have to rain on somebody's parade. It's a celebration of what our ancestors did."
On Columbus Day, Italian Americans celebrate their heritage and commemorate the day Columbus landed in the new world in 1492.