Gregg Popovich slams Texas school district honoring Columbus. ‘Are we that backward?’
San Antonio Spurs head basketball coach Gregg Popovich slammed a Texas school district that continues to honor Christopher Columbus.
Students in the Alamo Heights Independent School District had the day off Monday, as the district honored Columbus Day. The San Antonio Independent School District also gave students a day off, but recognized the holiday as “Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”
In recent years, the holiday has shifted away from the famed explorer and toward Native Americans in light of behavior by Columbus many have deemed reprehensible. Last week, President Joe Biden proclaimed Oct. 11 as Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a way to honor Native American history and culture.
Popovich gave credit to the SAISD for recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day, while criticizing the other school district in the city.
“What the hell is Alamo Heights thinking? It’s Columbus Day. That’s why they’re off on Monday?” Popovich questioned in an interview streamed by KSAT. “Maybe there’s something I’m missing and I’m ignorant, but it makes me feel like they’re living in a phone booth and they’re educating our kids. Columbus Day? And we’re going to honor that?”
Some say Columbus Day celebrates the genocide and enslavement of Native Americans. Movements have been made to abolish the holiday.
Columbus is referred to as the “discoverer” of the New World, but his methods continue to be met with controversy more than 500 years later.
Popovich, the head basketball coach for Team USA who is often unafraid of sharing his opinion on cultural hot topics, is among the critics of the holiday. He said in last weekend’s interview that Columbus took slaves, mutilated and murdered while initiating “a new world genocide.”
He said the Indigenous Peoples’ Day proclamation by Biden on Oct. 8 was way overdue for the United States and questioned why Columbus Day should still be honored by others.
“It’s no knock on Italian Americans. That’s a silly argument. It’s like saying we should be proud of Hitler because we’re German. I mean it makes no sense,” Popovich said. “It’s about Columbus. It’s not about Italian-Americans. And so, there are a lot of states that have come out and scratched the Columbus Day and made it Indigenous Peoples’ Day. But in our city, are we that backward that we have school districts that do that? I’m amazed. Just amazed”
This story was originally published October 12, 2021 at 9:26 AM.