I would like to applaud SF State and the rest of the California State University schools for not observing Columbus Day again this year.

CSU made a definite statement by continuing business as usual on Oct. 12, while the rest of the state boldly took the day off to commemorate the destruction of an entire civilization. Educational institutions and government bodies acknowledging Columbus Day should feel ashamed for nodding along and perpetuating the commemoration of this tragedy.

The San Francisco Unified School District honored Columbus Day as a national holiday and did not hold class, as did the University of San Francisco and City College of San Francisco.

These institutions need to follow SF State's lead in rejecting an imperialist ideology and recognizing that this holiday has no purpose, no truth and no place in centers of learning.

"The problem is that it celebrates colonialism," raza studies Prof. Carlos Cordova said. "It continues to be part of a dominant ideology."

Although government buildings and schools kept their doors shut, and students slept in to honor this historic day, CSUs decided against celebrating in honor of the demise of entire populations.

When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, the population of the American peoples numbered roughly 125 million, according to Cordova.

He added that within one year after the arrival of the first Europeans in America, 92 percent of the indigenous population had been killed or died from slavery or diseases brought by the Europeans.

"They saw the indigenous peoples as subhuman," Cordova said.

The celebration of this holiday needs to be completely discontinued and disregarded. It completely misses the point of what took place. Because of Columbus, American Indians were introduced to things like fences, slavery and land ownership.

The arrival of Columbus began one of the worst genocides in human history, and it must stop being celebrated as an achievement.