Vice President Kamala Harris doubled down on her recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day amid outrage on social media over her open support for the Columbus Day name change.
“This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I’m thinking about the young Indigenous leaders I met in Arizona last week. I count on their leadership and look forward to our partnership,” Harris posted on her X campaign account Monday afternoon.
The post comes as videos of Harris from 2019 and 2021 have spread like wildfire on social media platforms, highlighting Harris’ previous comments supporting the renaming of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day and admonishing to European explorers for unleashing a “wave of devastation on tribal nations” when they arrived in America in the late 15th century.
“Count me in for your support,” Harris told a voter in New Hampshire in 2019 when asked if she supports changing the name of Columbus Day to “Indigenous People’s Day,” as footage of the event shows. Harris’ comments came about a month after she launched her ultimately unsuccessful bid for the White House in 2020.
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Trump’s campaign was criticized Harris about her comments uncovered in 2019, in an exclusive comment to Fox News Digital on Sunday.
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“Kamala Harris is your stereotypical leftist. Not only does she want to raise taxes and defund the police, she also wants to cancel American traditions like Columbus Day.” Trump campaign national press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, North Carolina, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
“President Trump will ensure that the great legacy of Christopher Columbus is honored and protect this holiday from radical leftists who want to erase our nation’s history like Kamala Harris.”
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In 2021, Harris said as vice president that the United States “must not shy away” from its “shameful past” of European explorers who she said ushered in “a wave of devastation.”
Portrait of Christopher Columbus, 1519. Found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Artist: Piombo, Sebastiano, del (1485-1547). (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
“Since 1934, each October, the United States has recognized the journey of the European explorers who first landed on the shores of America,” Harris said during the 78th Annual Convention of the National Congress of American Indians on October 12, 2021 .
“But that’s not the whole story. That’s never been the whole story,” Harris continued in her 2021 speech.
“Those explorers ushered in a wave of devastation for tribal nations: they perpetrated violence, stole land, and spread disease,” he continued. “We must not shy away from this shameful past, we must shine a light on it and do everything we can to address the impact of the past on Native communities today.”
Columbus Day is a federal holiday which officially celebrates and recognizes the arrival of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus to America in 1492. Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed a proclamation in 1934 making Columbus Day a national holiday after lobbying from the Italian-American and Catholic communities.
Vice President Harris addresses the 78th Annual Convention of the National Congress of American Indians in 2021. (White House)
Activists in recent years. have worked to disassociate Columbus Day, claiming that it celebrates colonialism and the genocide of indigenous peoples, in favor of celebrating Native Americans. Activists have also worked to remove Columbus statues from cities, including toppling such statues during the 2020 riots.
Protesters surround a statue of Christopher Columbus before marching, eventually returning and toppling it in Richmond, Virginia, on June 9, 2020. (PARKER MICHELS-BOYCE/AFP via Getty Images)
president biden He became the first president in 2021 to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same holiday.
Harris has consistently celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day, and her official Vice Presidential X account recognizes the holiday every year since 2021, while searching for “Columbus Day” on her account returns no results.
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Her X post on Monday celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day comes as social media commentators criticized her for uncovered comments from 2019 and 2021.
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Fox News Digital has repeatedly reached out to Harris’ campaign since Sunday regarding her previous comments, but did not receive a response. Fox Digital reached out to the campaign again Monday afternoon asking if the vice president would end recognition of Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day considering her latest tweet, but did not immediately receive a response.
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