“Sex slaver, mass murderer, and champion of sociopathic imperialism.” [x]
Christopher Columbus did not discover the Americas — by 1492 it had been long inhabited by natives. For around 14,000 years, actually. He didn’t discover that the earth was round, nor did he discover untouched land. He did, however, commit mass genocide by infecting indigenous peoples with smallpox. He did sail the ocean blue, he did arrive in the Americas, and he did steal land from the natives. He also forced young girls into sex slavery, raped native women, and enslaved hundreds of others. So naturally, Native Americans and other POC are kind of pissed off that there’s a federal holiday in his name.
In recognition of this, Seattle has renamed the holiday Indigenous People’s Day. This year, protesters in Los Angeles rallied to have the city follow in Seattle’s footsteps, and held signs denouncing Columbus as a “terrorist” and a “real illegal alien.” It is their hope that we will, one day, not have a holiday dedicated to a monster.
There’s something unsettling about the fact that we are taught as children that Columbus was a super cool and heroic explorer who discovered America. And it’s even worse that misinformation and blatant lies continue into high school, unless you take an advanced placement United States history course. Then you find out the truth, but only a little tiny bit of it.
It’s sad what hypocrites we are to be against immigration while living in a country we stole.
It’s sad that people actually have to protest a federal holiday that celebrates a murderer.
And it’s sad that there are people who will still find a way to disagree, even though Columbus did nothing at all of importance ever.
Columbus was a pretty terrible guy. It’s time we stop honoring him and start honoring the natives he wiped out.
This was a really interesting post. I never knew any of these things about Christopher Columbus! Except, of course, for the lies I was supposed to know. The good question is why? Why must our country cover up what he did? If you asked me, I would say it’s got to do with our shame and guilt. We don’t want to fess up to his or our past reactions and we certainly don’t want to take responsibility for them. But what is this really solving? If anything, it’s just creating a very angry (which is understandable) race whose hatred only grows every October 13.
This was a really interesting post. I never knew any of these things about Christopher Columbus! Except, of course, for the lies I was supposed to know. The good question is why? Why must our country cover up what he did? If you asked me, I would say it’s got to do with our shame and guilt. We don’t want to fess up to his or our past reactions and we certainly don’t want to take responsibility for them. But what is this really solving? If anything, it’s just creating a very angry (which is understandable) race whose hatred only grows every October 13.
Christopher Columbus was by no means a saint and he is definitely idolized in the United States. Even though he failed to realize he found a new land and not India, he still did a lot of good for the world (excluding the Native Americans). I would like to ask you a question. Would you rather Columbus never find America and prevent the expansion of western ideas or let the Native Americans live without western contact. Ten times out of ten, I take the expansion of ideas. America has done a lot of good even if it was founded on genocide, which was common back then.
I have noticed over the past few years the animosity that has built up against Christopher Columbus. While it’s quite obvious that nobody celebrates, or really cares about the holiday, taking an advanced history course does change the perception of not just Columbus, but really the history of America. There is no way that we can claim that we were always good people. There is no country that can claim we were always filled with good people. But the curiosity, and the vast opportunities Easterners noticed of the Western Hemisphere became very tempting. Our history isn’t pretty, or anything to be super proud of, but it’s the truth, and it’s where we are today.