For Immediate Release
Contact: Transform Columbus Day Alliance 303-964-8993 or 303-871-0463
Saturday, 11 October 2003
TRANSFORM COLUMBUS DAY ALLIANCE CALLS FOR ABOLITION OF
COLUMBUS DAY
OUTLINES YEAR-LONG STRATEGY FOR EFFORTS
The Transform Columbus Day (TCD) Alliance, a coalition of over eighty social justice organizations, which has been protesting the Columbus Day parade in Denver since 1989, calls now for the unequivocal abolition of the Columbus Day holiday as a local, state, and national holiday. The celebration of Columbus is the veneration of colonialism, conquest, and genocide. As people of conscience, we must move our society closer to the democratic values of equality for all, through historical accuracy, justice in the judicial and political processes of the country, and respect for diverse peoples and cultures.
During the upcoming year the TCD Alliance will embark on the following program:
- An International call has gone out to encourage tens of thousands of people from around the world to come to Denver in 2004, either to celebrate the elimination of Columbus Day, or to march against the ongoing celebration of the holiday.
- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum, has already committed to come to Denver to march with TCD for the elimination of Columbus Day, and for the construction of mutual respect among people through the All Nations / Four Directions March. She has also committed to enlisting the support of other Nobel Laureates, such as Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.
- A legislative campaign is already underway to repeal Columbus Day in Colorado, the birthplace of the holiday. Colorado was the first state to designated it a holiday in 1907.
- In 2004, during the second week in October, a series of events will take place, including concerts with internationally-renowned musicians, a cultural festival, and marches calling for the replacement of Columbus Day with more just and more respectful celebrations.
- Students have called for weeklong teach-in on Colorado high school and college campus, to learn a more accurate history of the Americas. The teach-ins will focus not only on the genocide brought by Columbus and his contemporaries, but also on the enduring effects of the Columbus legacy to indigenous peoples, the environment, and in such recent developments as globalization, patriarchy, and global militarization.