Should Columbus Day Be A National Holiday? [Poll]

Happy Columbus Day?

It depends if you have today off of work and/or how much mail you were expecting to send.

Columbus Day comes and goes without much fanfare in most parts of the country.  Many think Columbus Day is unnecessary or even inappropriate.

Should Columbus Day be a national holiday?

The idea of eliminating Columbus Day is not new, but it appears to be picking up momentum for many reasons.  While Columbus was an important explorer, exactly what he discovered has been overstated by many.

History.com says:

The explorer Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain: in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502. He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did. Instead, he accidentally stumbled upon the Americas. Though he did not really “discover” the New World--millions of people already lived there--his journeys marked the beginning of centuries of trans-Atlantic conquest and colonization.

Many feel Columbus is not worthy of a holiday because of the effect his journeys had on native people, including the taking of slaves.  Britannica.com says modern opinion of Columbus is changing due to...

...the disastrous impact of the slave trade and the ravages of imported disease on the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean region and the American continents. The sense of triumph has diminished accordingly, and the view of Columbus as hero has now been replaced, for many, by one of a man deeply flawed.

Some wish to change Columbus Day to Exploration Day, to honor all Americans explorers who have broken boundaries including Columbus, Neil Armstrong, and others.