it is not a big day for me..just wasn't celebrated here..but it is to Italian Americans..who have in the past not gotten enough respect and like their T-shirts say..they built a lot of it. So, with some acknowledgements that it was certainly not good for the natives, and perhaps some official ceremonies honoring them...I would still keep it as it has been celebrated in some communities..it would be like doing away with St. Patrick's Day..it is very important to some people..it should be modified but kept I think..but not expanded to include more people getting days off etc. if they already don't. Whether he discovered it or not..doesn't matter to me any more than if St. Patrick really chased out the snakes..it matters to Italian Americans..some of them...mg