Though most Montclair students probably used their Columbus Day holiday to rest and relax, a small group of their peers spent the day urging residents to stop celebrating the man revered centuries-long for discovering the New World.

Christopher Columbus is a "slave trader" who committed genocide, the effects of which are still being felt by Native Americans today, according to Isy Abraham-Raveson.

"Columbus does not deserve to be honored," she said. "He was not a good person."

Abraham-Raveson, 15, a Montclair High School student, led approximately a half-dozen students at the intersection of Church Street and Bloomfield Avenue this past Monday as they asked passersby and other area pedestrians to sign their petition decrying Columbus Day.

The petition, which the students will submit to the Township Council, requests that the federal holiday to be renamed in honor of Native Americans. The petition also expresses support for an Italian-American Heritage Day "to celebrate their rich heritage without honoring a murderer."

Abraham-Raveson, an equality button courtesy of gay rights group Human Rights Campaign pinned to her shirt, said she learned at an early age that the land Columbus discovered was already populated by natives. She always knew the famed explorer was "a bad guy," she said.

But last summer, she read "The People’s History of the United States," a revisionist history book by political scientist Howard Zinn. The text confirmed her sentiment that Columbus’ arrival in America spelled doom for the natives who lived here, and spurred her to act, she said.

"I think it’s really sick to honor someone that did so many bad things," she said.

Though the first recorded celebration of Columbus occurred in New York City 1792, during a 300th anniversary celebration of his landing in the New World, Columbus Day did not become a federal holiday until 1971, courtesy of President Richard M. Nixon.

Manny Alfano, anti-bias chairman of UNICO National, an Italian-American advocacy group, objects to the Montclair students’ attempts to transform Columbus Day.

Even though Columbus was not the first person to set foot in The New World, he was the first person to discover a trade route from Europe to America, said Alfano, a Belleville resident.

"He has to have that credit," he said.

Regarding the students’ charges that Columbus was a slave trader, Alfano noted that Native Americans themselves had slaves, while natives in South America were known to practice gruesome forms of torture. You can’t judge someone from 500 years ago with today’s standards, Alfano said.

"We have people … that want to change history," he said. "That’s not how it was. If you really look at 1492 before and after, you’ll see all over the world, this was the mindset of people."

Alfano noted that UNICO has no issue with honoring Native Americans, but not instead of Columbus Day.

According to the students, about half the people they encountered were supportive of their cause and signed their petition, while the other half either didn’t care or disputed the students’ characterization of Columbus.

Some of the students’ peers aren’t very supportive, either. Abraham-Raveson said many of them think they may lose their Columbus Day holiday, not realizing that the day off is for teacher conferences, not to celebrate Columbus.

Still, Abraham-Raveson didn’t let any of this deter her as she hawked her cause on Church Street, taking numerous trips up and down the street, looking for support.

"Would you like to use this day to honor the victims of this genocide, instead of their oppressor?" she asked a woman seated on a bench.

The woman shook her head and waved Abraham-Raveson off, uninterested.

"At least she let me finish," Abraham-Raveson said. "I like the people who are polite."