I love Columbus Day because it reminds me of a bygone era before children were taught to hate their own country, its founding and its history.

Now, we teach students that they live on stolen land and are descended from genocidal oppressors. Must do wonders for their social emotional wellness.

Our local Human Rights Commission wants to have Columbus Day changed to “Indigenous People’s Day” in Wakefield. They would have gotten it done this year, but they were so busy decentering whiteness that they got a late start and ran out of time.

Of course, the official national holiday would still be Columbus Day, but it’s fun to play pretend.

Still, given the way the town is going, we’ll be saying “Goodbye Columbus” sooner rather than later. That Italian explorer must be held accountable for what happened on his watch. Better 500 years late than never.

The Wakefield School Committee tried to lay the groundwork earlier this year by voting to eliminate the Wakefield Warrior logo and apologizing to Indigenous people for the unspeakable horror that the logo has caused them.

Recently, a Wakefield High School student attempted to celebrate Native American culture by wearing an Indian headdress to a Warrior football game. For his crime, he will be subjected to “restorative practices” to ensure that he and all students understand such heinous acts of cultural appropriation will not be tolerated.

If a Warrior headdress is unacceptable, what about sweatshirts depicting an Indian warrior in a headdress? Will students wearing Warrior gear be barred from future games? What about adults sporting Warrior attire?

And what is the statute of limitations on wearing headdresses and Warrior gear? Since we’re holding world explorers who died half a millennium ago to account for their misdeeds, will current and recent School Committee members who have worn offensive and hurtful Warrior gear be sanctioned and subjected to the same “restorative practices” as the kid with the headdress?

You don’t have to be eligible for Medicare to remember when Indian headdresses were part of the official uniform of the Wakefield High School majorettes. So, doesn’t that mean that every School Committee member and school administrator for the last 75 years who sanctioned the majorette’s headdresses and/or the use of the Warrior logo is complicit in the harm caused to Native Americans?

What “restorative practices” will they be facing?

Which brings us to Gen. John Rogers Galvin. Sure, he was a four-star general, served two tours of duty in the Vietnam War and rose to become Supreme Allied Commander of all NATO forces in Europe.

But while he was a student in Wakefield, he drew the very first Warrior logo of an Indian in a headdress for his 1947 Wakefield High School yearbook.

Under the rules of restorative justice, don’t we now have to change the name of the Galvin Middle School to Indigenous Peoples Middle School? If it’s good enough for Columbus, it’s good enough for Gen. Galvin. Either it applies to everyone or it applies to no one. It’s about “equity,” right?

Unless normal people find their voice and start using it, next year at this time you’ll be celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day gathered around a drum circle of mandatory compost bins.

Enjoy what may be the last Columbus Day weekend in Wakefield.
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[This column originally appeared in the October 7, 2021 Wakefield Daily Item.]