An attempt by progressive members of The Squad to legislate the end of Columbus Day by replacing it with Indigenous People's Day has earned them the label "hateful," at least from the perspective of Italian-American groups.

A group of five New York Democrats in the House--Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman, Adriano Espaillat, Grace Meng and Gregory Meeks--is co-sponsoring HR5822, which reads in full, “To designate Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a legal public holiday and replace the term 'Columbus Day’ with the term 'Indigenous Peoples’ Day.'”

There has been a movement among some in the Left the last few decades to ditch Columbus Day because of some reports that Christopher Columbus committed atrocities against Native Americans while on his voyages.

Ocasio-Cortez has been calling for getting rid of Columbus Day since 2018, but has previously advocated swapping it out with Election Day, which is currently not a holiday.

Is change inevitable?

“How is Columbus Day a holiday but not Election Day? I am willing to compromise by eliminating Columbus Day to give Election Day off,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement on X, then called Twitter.

While a debate has raged for the last several years, leftists seem to be winning the culture war.

Some Roman Catholic universities have even started calling the holiday Indigenous Peoples' Day.

“We seek to preserve our heritage, celebrate the contributions of Italian Americans and honor the great achievements of Columbus. And we support a holiday for the recognition of indigenous people,” Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Heritage Coalition said in an e-mail blast to supporters.

“Sadly, five members of Congress from New York want to divide our communities by cosponsoring legislation to strike down Columbus Day and Italian American culture. This hurtful action must not move forward,” he said.

Celebtate both?

Meng tried to be diplomatic and say that both holidays should be celebrated, but she still supported the law to get rid of Columbus Day.

“Italian Americans have made enormous contributions to our nation, and we have to continue honoring this outstanding legacy, regardless of how one may feel about Christopher Columbus. We should also support a day to recognize indigenous people,” she said.

“There should be a way to equally celebrate both, and it doesn’t have to be limited to just one day," she said. "I’ll always support paying tribute to Italian Americans. Italian Americans and indigenous people both deserve a day of their own.”

Was Columbus even Italian?

A new report claims that Columbus was a sephardic Jew instead of an Italian from Genoa.

DNA taken from his bones seems to prove that he was Jewish and from Spain, and historians now speculate that he hid his ethnicity to avoid persecution.