“Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
- John F. Kennedy
September 15th begins Hispanic Heritage Month to recognize and pay tribute to the many Hispanic Americans that have positively influenced and enriched our country’s history, culture, and success. The celebration starts in the middle of the month to pay homage to the many Independence Day celebrations in Latin America that are celebrated around this date. The month-long recognition includes October 12th, which is known around the globe as Columbus Day, Dia De la Raza (Day of the Races) or Indigenous People’s Day.
Dia de la Raza and Indigenous People’s Day are often considered counter holidays to Columbus Day, which has been traditionally a day to celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas in 1492. Celebrating the exploration of the “new world” has long been offensive to many Indigenous people and Hispanic Americans who called these lands home, so Indigenous People’s Day and Dia de la Raza are opportunities to honor the people and cultures that were destroyed by European colonization. Many states and municipalities across the US are changing the name of the holiday to reflect the inequities and violent history associated with European settlers, including Westborough Public Schools.
Columbus Day isn’t the only thing to get a makeover - there are many other examples of name changes occurring across this country, especially as it relates to monuments and team names or mascots. The Washington Football Team is one such example, but even our neighbors in Northborough and Southborough are grappling with what to rename the Algonquin Regional High School mascot. During the Westborough Town Meeting this past March, residents voted to open an exploratory committee to review the town seal as the portrayal of the cotton gin is controversial.
This Racial Justice Toolkit aims to present opportunities for dialogue related to these changes to holidays, public monuments, mascots, and traditions. Our hope is that we can all open our hearts, eyes, and ears to hear from different perspectives and start to grapple with this idea of change. Why is it hard to change a holiday’s name? Can I see how the team name or monument could be offensive to someone else? What is important to me about the tradition? What makes it so hard for others to let go of traditions as they always have been? What opportunities are we opening up by changing the name of something? These are some of the questions we hope to ask ourselves as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and Indigenous People’s Day. We offer the links, resources, books, and videos presented in this RJT to help bring meaning to these changes to our culture.
