The taxpayer-funded America250 commission, led by former Obama official Rosie Rios, has partnered with a left-wing activist group known for campaigning to erase Christopher Columbus from U.S. history.
Rios, appointed by former President Joe Biden to oversee the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations, selected the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) to help organize the semiquincentennial festivities. America250 described NCAI as a “subject-matter” expert on Indigenous history—but the group has led efforts to remove Columbus statues, rename the Washington Redskins, and push to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
In June 2020, NCAI celebrated the removal of Columbus statues, calling the explorer a symbol of “hate, genocide, and bigotry.” The group also praised California lawmakers in 2022 for stripping Columbus’s name from a portion of Interstate 10.
Rios and America250 have echoed those sentiments, promoting an article titled “Unlearning Columbus Day Myths,” which claimed that “Celebrating Columbus and other explorers like him dismisses the devastating losses experienced by Indigenous Peoples.”
The decision to partner with NCAI is likely to reignite criticism of Rios, who previously said “nothing good” could come from Donald Trump’s presidency and accused him of having “demonized … my people.” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) has called for her removal, citing “a track record of extreme partisan bias.”
The controversy comes as Trump restores Columbus Day to federal observance, declaring, “Columbus Day—we’re back, Italians!” Polls show 69 percent of Americans consider Columbus an “important part of American history.”
