WHY, it is important to address the gruesome act of ethnic cleansing that “The City”, “The Church” and “Columbus Day” perpetrates in Philadelphia?

• On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on an island he named San Salvador, which is also recognized by its Taíno name, Guanahani, in the Bahamas. On November 19, 1493, during his second voyage, he arrived in Puerto Rico—known as Borinquen to its Indigenous inhabitants. Columbus claimed this island for Spain, branding it San Juan Bautista. On his Third Voyage in 1498, Columbus made landfall on the island of Trinidad known by the Arawak people as Kairi or Lere, and briefly in the Paria Peninsula, in present-day Venezuela.
  
  His arrival to those territories marked the onset of Spanish colonization, which resulted in a drastic decline of the Taíno, and Arawak populations. The Taíno perspective, informed by their experiences, asserts that Columbus initiated a period of genocide, cultural destruction, slavery, and widespread suffering for the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. Today, Philadelphia boasts one of the largest Puerto Rican populations in the continental United States, with many residents proudly identifying as Taíno.

• In 1892, the Samuel George Morton Cranial Collection, held by the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, sent 44 Native American “crania” of ancestors to Spain in 1892 for an exhibit celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage to the “New World”. These ancestors were part of Morton’s collection, which has been criticized for being unethical and is being considered for repatriation by the museum.
  
  At that time, there was likely little public outcry, as Native Americans were viewed as adversaries by the expanding Euro-American settler colonial society from 1609-1924. Hundred of tribes were loosing control over their territories against the encroachment of the U.S. Army, and were forced onto reservations, (concentration camps) or removed from their homelands. Additionally, their children were often taken and sent to infamous Indian boarding schools, while parents faced imprisonment if they resisted.
  
  It is well known today that the Catholic Church played a significant role in enforcing these horrific policies.It is also known that the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations in the USA that often perpetrates the legacy of Columbus, is largely influenced by three Papal Bulls (decrees) that granted Portugal and Spain the right to conquer and colonize non-Christian lands and subjugate the people found there. These papal bulls were used by European powers to provide religious justification for their actions, which included seizing land and forcing conversions. These Papal Bulls also known as The Doctrine of Discovery were later incorporated into the laws of several countries, including the United States.

• In 1992, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage, the city of Philadelphia chose to rename a section of Delaware Avenue to Columbus Boulevard. This decision was made in honor of Italian-American heritage, despite the fact that the original inhabitants of the area are the Lenape tribes (also known as the Delaware). This act of Indigenous erasure (cultural genocide), was met with great opposition and protest by the Native American community and allies. It is reported that the general public, opposed the change, with signs for the street being defaced for years following the event.

• On August 6, 2025, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court overturned Mayor Jim Kenney’s 2021 executive order recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an official holiday in Philadelphia. The ruling (No. 516 C.D. 2023) declared that only City Council—not the Mayor—can establish or rename official City holidays. By default, Columbus Day was reinstated. (Inquirer / Fox29).This decision is a deeply troubling setback for cultural recognition and undermines Philadelphia’s commitment to equity and inclusion.