Stop honoring Columbus!.. Indigenous Peoples Day!

Why does America celebrate the life of an Italian explorer who was responsible for the murder and eventual genocide of an entire race of people?
When Christopher Columbus landed on Haiti/Hispaniola in 1495 for his second visit, his men took captive the 2,000 friendly Taino native villagers who came to greet him. The Spaniards, under the command of Columbus, began mass enslavement of the indigenous Taino peoples. Once gold was discovered Columbus set up a tribute system and had the hands cut off of Taino Indians who did not collect enough gold dust. For minor offenses an Indians nose or ears were cut off and Spaniards even hunted Indians for sport and murdered them for dog food.
As he began exporting the Taino as slaves, the sex-trade became an important part of the business, as Columbus wrote a friend in 1500: "A hundred castelanoes (coins) are as easily obtained for a woman as a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for these girls; those from nine to ten (years old) are now in demand."
As the Taino natives did not make very good slaves Columbus, and later his brother Bartholomew, simply resorted to an 'ethnic cleansing' and wiping out the Taino people all together. Prior to Columbus' arrival most scholars place the native population at three million people. By 1516 the population was 12,000. By 1555 not a single Taino was alive. The Taino culture, people, and genes have vanished from the Planet.
Celebrating the life of a mass murderer is not worthy of America. There is a growing movement to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day to honor all the incredible people and cultures who lived here long before Columbus set sail for the West Indies. Indigenous Peoples Day would be joyously celebrated across the nation by the descendants of European explorers and indigenous peoples coming together to celebrate our ancestors.