Austin Light, a Native American student, said he feels like a needle in a haystack.
On Monday afternoon, Light gathered on the Plaza of the Americas to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, a pushback to Columbus Day.
Brady Kelsey, a UF anthropology senior, said the goal of the event, which was hosted by The American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, was to educate students on the history of the indigenous peoples in North America and update them on current indigenous issues.
Kelsey and professors from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences set up a table to inform students about indigenous people and Christopher Columbus.
Light, a UF history junior, said even though the UF campus is inclusive, he thinks the university could do more to educate students on indigenous history. He said it was hard to find classes about Native American history, but found three professors of Native American studies at the event.
Light said he thinks racism stems from people who are uneducated about the group they are targeting, and UF should have more options for students to become educated about indigenous peoples.
“If people were educated on why everything happened the way it happened, I think it would be a huge step to combat that type of viewpoint,” the 23-year-old said.
Kelsey said the celebration of Columbus Day is an issue because indigenous people face continued suppression. She believes Columbus Day should be permanently replaced with Indigenous Peoples Day.
“(Columbus) is a falsified historical figure,” the 21-year-old said. “He never actually set foot on North America, it was actually the Caribbean Islands … and in his rule he killed over 5 million.”
The community should try and give back to the indigenous population because of what they have endured due to Europeans and white people, Kelsey said.
Celebrating Columbus, who was responsible for beginning the enslavement of indigenous people in the New World, as the founder of the Americas is inaccurate and morally unjust, Kelsey said.
“Now is the time to recognize that we made an error, say that we made an error, own up to the mistake and move on,” Kelsey said.
Robin Wright, an associate professor in the UF Department of Religion, said history books don’t highlight the true discoverers of America, which are the indigenous people. Wright said it’s estimated the indigenous people arrived in North America at least 40,000 years ago.
“That should be recognized, and not the recognition of a person who was the beginning, the starting point, of the destruction of the indigenous peoples in the Americas,” Wright said.
Wright said he does not think UF does enough to recognize indigenous people. He said indigenous people should be recognized and discussed in multiple colleges across the university for their contributions to religion, science, law and humanities.
At the event, about 150 people signed a petition to get UF to change its recognition of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.
The event was a kickoff for their Diversity Week before the arrival of Richard Spencer, an avowed white supremacist, on Oct. 19, Kelsey said.
“We’re trying to show that we are UF, we care about other people and we’re not supporting of Richard Spencer and his beliefs,” Kelsey said.
