[ti:Who Really ‘Discovered’ America?] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]This Monday, the United States celebrates Columbus Day. [00:05.41]The government established Columbus Day as a national holiday long ago [00:11.76]to honor the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. [00:16.93]It recognizes his arrival in what Europeans called the New World in 1492. [00:27.48]Today some U.S. cities and areas are moving away from honoring Columbus [00:34.80]and instead celebrating the native peoples of North America. [00:41.79]Wisconsin is one of the latest areas to declare the second Monday in October Indigenous People's Day. [00:53.20]Wisconsin's governor said earlier this month [00:57.28]that his state recognizes and thanks tribal nations and native people. [01:05.05]The state has 11 recognized American Indian tribes. [01:12.36]Tehassi Hill is the chairman of the Oneida Nation. [01:17.67]He says that celebrating Indigenous People's Day [01:22.74]can help Americans learn about tribal culture and history. [01:28.61]But, he notes, moving from Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day has taken a long time. [01:39.20]The first reported celebration of Christopher Columbus's arrival [01:45.02]took place in the United States in 1792. [01:51.48]Later, some Italian-Americans began celebrating the Italian explorer [01:58.06]as part of their cultural history. [02:01.48]In the 1930s, Columbus Day became a national holiday. [02:09.16]But native people have long objected to honoring the explorer, [02:15.74]note writers on the Smithsonian Institution's blog. [02:20.68]They say that the arrival of Columbus – along with other colonizers [02:27.42]– led to the deaths and forced assimilation of millions of native people. [02:34.93]They add, "Indigenous People's Day recognizes that Native People [02:41.92]are the first inhabitants of the Americas ... And it urges Americans to rethink history." [02:50.95]Recently, the city government of Washington, DC approved a measure [02:57.16]to honor Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day, at least for this year. [03:05.26]One of the supporters of the measure is politician David Grosso. [03:12.11]He pointed out in a statement that Columbus did not discover North America, [03:18.88]or even walk on the land that today is the United States. [03:25.09]Opponents of the measure said Italian-American voters [03:30.40]did not like the idea of changing the name of the holiday. [03:35.95]Others objected on social media to what they consider the re-writing of American history. [03:44.61]But supporters from many areas claim that celebrating Columbus [03:51.19]as the person who "discovered" the New World is simply inaccurate. [03:58.28]And, they say, honoring him as a hero ignores the violence, slavery, [04:06.28]and disease his arrival brought to native Americans. [04:12.72]With Wisconsin, at least eight states have already moved away from observing Columbus Day. [04:22.03]But it remains a federal holiday. [04:27.64]I'm Anne Ball. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM