Club Advocates Abolition of Columbus Day

As much of the country observes Columbus Day this Monday, October 13, the Santa Barbara City College’s Native American Awareness Club will hold an event to call for the abolition of the holiday, which its members believe unintentionally commemorates the colonists’ cruel treatment of indigenous peoples.

Rebuking the spirit of the holiday, the event will feature a screening of The Canary Effect, a 2006 documentary that portrays and analyzes the history of what the club calls the “terrifying and horrific” and “genocidal” acts against Native Americans, both past and present. The film won the Stanley Kubrick Award for Innovative filmmaking, at Michael Moore‘s Traverse City Film Festival 2006.

The gathering will take place at Santa Barbara City College, Room A-160, from 6-9 p.m. A 20-minute introduction falls before the screening and a 20-minute discussion afterward.