What's Another Columbus Day?
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This past Monday was Columbus Day. How should one reflect on Columbus and the national holiday that allows children a day off from school, the closure of some institutions, and sales galore? Was Columbus the honorable sailor, adventurer, and navigator--devoid of misdeeds as the mythos states? Or were Columbus and his men responsible for the murder, rape, and brutality exacted upon an indigenous population ending in genocide? Do we want to live in a sterilized, fantasy environment? Or do we want to know the truth? Do we care?
Howard Zinn, speaking on the subject of school children learning about Columbus said, "It has to be done carefully. You don't want to crowd into their minds horrible pictures of violence and blood -- we don't want to do what the movies and television do to them all the time."
The author of A People's History of the United States continued, "And yet at the same time, we must not hide the truth from them. Because if you begin hiding the truth from them at that early age -- then it goes on and on."
James Loewen, the author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, calls Columbus a "racist killer" pointing out that the brutality inflicted by Columbus and his men through slavery, rape, and murder eventually lead to the indigenous population's annihilation. Loewen's book documents the failings of 12 US high school history textbooks citing "bland optimism, blind patriotism, and misinformation." In the case of Columbus, he found that the textbooks focused too much on Columbus the hero and downplayed or omitted his misdeeds.
"They would... take Indians from place to place with them -- as dog food -- as a kind of mobile dog food," said Loewen. "When they got to where they were going for the night, [they would] allow the dogs to tear one of them apart and eat them."
So, do we care? What's the point of making a moral judgement about a person who has been dead for over 500 years? Why worry about Columbus Day at all?
The Transform Columbus Day Alliance states that, "Columbus' actions set the foundation for legal and social policies -- still used today in United States, Mexico, Canada, South America and in many countries around the world."
It is those "legal and social policies" that continue to oppress, brutalize, dominate, and eradicate indigenous peoples today. Therefore, if we are moral people and we recognize that the foundation of the United States and its institutions were created through a tradition of aggression, domination, and colonialism and those same tendencies continue 500 years later (Iraq, for instance), then we, as citizens of the most privileged nation in the world, have a responsibility to halt the murder of indigenous peoples (indeed, all subjugated peoples) and the destruction of our earth by any means necessary. That is why we ought to care about the passing of yet another Columbus Day and the legacy it leaves in its wake.
Video/Audio c/o DemocracyNow!: Challenging Columbus Day: Denver Organizers Discuss Why They Protest the Holiday
Additional Information:
Transform Columbus Day | Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies (1542) | Christopher Columbus and the Indians by Howard Zinn | Why the American Indian Movement of Colorado Opposes Columbus Day and Columbus Day Parades | Colorado IMC: Statue of Columbus Toppled in Caracas, Venezuela; Solidarity Actions World-wide | Boston IMC: Brookline High School Students Repudiate Columbus Day | Boston IMC: Columbus Day Celebrates Genocide | Philly IMC: Columbus Day -- another day of struggle and civil disobedience around the world. | Houston IMC: Chican@ week at University of Houston