Christopher Columbus

October 9, 2017 - 7:06pm
As an answer to Christopher Columbus Day, Indigenous People's Day celebrates the peoples native to the United States of America.

In 1992, a State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry freshman named Neil Patterson Jr. was sitting in his dorm when his roommate rushed in visibly upset. It was the 500th anniversary of Columbus arriving in South America and Patterson’s roommate had just witnessed students beating an effigy of Christopher Columbus hanging from a tree.

“He said, ‘Neil, I could totally understand you doing this, but why are they,’” Patterson recounted.