Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Should we all reconsider Columbus Day?
This isn't kindergarten anymore when we believed the fairy tale about Christopher Columbus who discovered our land and broke bread with the natives. We know better. We know about the genocide which can be considered one of the worst in our people's history. This man we are honoring slaughtered, raped, enslaved, and more basically, wiped-out an entire race of people.
Without him, yes, our world would be a much different place than it is today. Who's to say whether the loss is worth the gain? I can't speak for that. But I can speak up against the crimes he committed and I can spend Columbus Day in remembrance of the lost cultures instead of in honor of a villain.
Here are some places you can go to learn more about the native cultures that were lost as a result of Christopher Columbus' arrival:
The Nation Blog
Caribbean Native Languages and Cultures
Wikipedia: Indigenous People of the Americas
Indian Cultures
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Interesting! Here is a thought, when our country, long over due, of course, decided to honor a real hero, a lot of people were totally against the holiday. Radio personalities made fun of the holiday. The majority in this country did not see the need for this national holiday. A lot of the states refused to acknowledge the holiday. Get my drift? But somehow it's perfectly fine to honor a man who committed atrocities to innocent people eventually ending in genocide.
ReplyDeleteThe mystery hero is ,of course, one of my favorite heroes, Martin Luther King JR, who gave his life for equality for all people of color in the USA:)