Christopher Columbus is not a person that our country should be celebrating or making into a hero-figure. His brutal treatment of slaves and indigenous people is widely documented. It has also been established that he was not the first person to discover America, his supposed claim to fame.
By keeping Columbus Day on the national record, we are forced to educate our children with misinformation and continue to elevate a historical figure to a level he does not deserve. It is embarrassing, as an American, that we have a holiday on record that celebrates such a terrible character in our country's amazing history.
Rather than celebrate Christopher Columbus, we should celebrate the Native American population, exploration or another worthy cause.