Columbus Day is coming- how will you celebrate?
“We shall take you and your wives, and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and we shall take away your goods, and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can, and we protest that the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault .” – Christopher Columbus
Columbus Day is Monday, and millions of Americans see no reason to celebrate.
Arguably, since Christopher Columbus was not the first explorer to visit the Americas, should he really get all the credit for its discovery? What he is indeed responsible for is something not worthy of celebrating.
Catholic priest Bartolome de las Casas, in the multi-volume “History of the Indies” published in 1875, wrote, “… Slaves were the primary source of income for the Admiral (Columbus) with that income he intended to repay the money the Kings were spending in support of Spaniards on the Island. They provide profit and income to the Kings. (The Spaniards were driven by) insatiable greed … killing, terrorizing, afflicting, and torturing the native peoples … with the strangest and most varied new methods of cruelty.”
This systematic violence was aimed at preventing “Indians from daring to think of themselves as human beings. (The Spaniards) thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades…. My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write.”
Spaniards “thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades. They forced their way into native settlements, slaughtering everyone they found there, including small children, old men, pregnant women, and even women who had just given birth. They hacked them to pieces, slicing open their bellies with their swords as though they were sheep herded into a pen. They even laid wagers on whether they could manage to slice a man in two at a stroke, or cut an individual’s head from his body, or disembowel him with a single blow of their axes. They grabbed suckling infants by the feet and, ripping them from their mothers’ breasts, dashed them headlong against the rocks. Others, laughing and joking all the while, threw them over their shoulders into a river, shouting: ‘Wriggle, you litle perisher.’ They slaughtered anyone on their path …”
Columbus’ voyage was financed by investors who demanded a return. Since he couldn’t trade for the commodities he expected to find in Asia, he capitalized instead on the only other available abundant resource- humans. Since he couldn’t fit enough future slaves on his ships, the excess were put to work on his plantations, in mines, or killed for sport. Within four years the population of natives in Hispaniola had been reduced to a third. This unleashed an opportunistic raping of a land and its peaceful inhabitants that continued unabated for decades.
It should be noted that had Columbus first landed instead a bit farther north or south, he might have encountered less-peaceful natives. History might have been very different for the indigenous peoples had the Mayans opened up a can of head-rolling whupass on his crew.
Another holiday that is tarnished with a doubtful history is Thanksgiving.
Robert Jensen is an author and teaches media law, ethics and politics at the University of Texas. In an where he justifies his decision to not celebrate Thanksgiving as a holiday, he says, “Imagine that Germany won World War II and that a Nazi regime endured for some decades, eventually giving way to a more liberal state with a softer version of German-supremacist ideology. Imagine that a century later Germans celebrated a holiday offering a whitewashed version of German/Jewish history that ignored that holocaust and the deep antisemitism of the culture. Imagine that the holiday provided a welcomed time for families and friends to gather and enjoy food and conversation. Imagine that businesses, schools and government offices closed on this day. What would we say about such a holiday? Would we not question the distortions woven into such a celebration? Would we not demand a more accurate historical account? Would we not, in fact, denounce such a holiday as grotesque?”
Of course we would.
University of Massachusetts students protest Columbus Day 2006
Here is a link to an excellent collection of articles on the subject of this paragon of obnoxious white ambitiousness.
You can take action and ask that the government honor Native Americans with a holiday instead of a genocidal despot.
Direct link to sign the petition.
The United States honors only two men with federal holidays bearing their names. In January we commemorate the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., who struggled to lift the blinders of racial prejudice and to cut the remaining bonds of slavery in America. In October, we honor Christopher Columbus, who opened the Atlantic slave trade and launched one of the greatest waves of genocide known in history.
Why should I celebrate an evil genocidal murderer ?. Christopher Columbus is a bloody pig !.
Eww. I think Columbus is so cruel and harsh.
It is amazing how few Americans realize this or want to admit it but he is no hero.
http://socyberty.com/history/christopher-columbus-and-the-genocide-of-the-taino-nation/
Horrific. Thank you John.
I think he was Spanish or Portugese…so there you go…it wasn’t always our fault!…;-)
True that man!
Thank you for this Mother Hen.Often people will say “Get over it” but it’s generally not thoughtful people but rather those who don’t care.
Some too also make light of posts on this type of subject, something which they wouldn’t do when writing of equally awful things.9/11, Jewish Holocaust,etc.So in my opinion, this type of attitude does not see the significance of “lesser” historical horror.
This was timely and excellent and instructive,MH. Thank you again for it.
Beyond ditto.
Nice post. It never has made much sense that we have a day to celebrate a genocidal and greedy bastard, who to my knowledge never stepped foot into what was to become the United States.
What a great informative read. Amazing how far history can be distorted from the actual events that occurred.
Columbus and the Spanish invasion were horrific and yet I remember making those 3 ships out of paper and paste in first grade.
Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria, colored them with crayons, and ate the paste…..yummmm
Perhaps you might join me in writing to President Obama about an invasion and war, occupation and slavery happening today. Please take a moment to read and join this effort: 60 Seconds for Sudan <—- Clickable link
I apologize for being slightly off topic. My intent isn't to hijack your essay. I do feel we have a great deal of trouble understanding the world in which Columbus lived over 500 years ago.
For instance did you know Columbus voyage was financed largely by the explusion of the Moors and Jews from the newly converted Christian Spain?
That is ok. Genocide anywhere is disgusting, and if you can get an interested audience to further your cause I’m all for it.
I did know about the religious aspect, but I was trying to keep it on this continent, and I could do a whole post on religion (I would get ranty then this would have been 1000 words longer and no one would read it)
I’d read it.
Thanks! 🙂 But I’ve found that over 1000 words doesn’t hold attention well.
The fiasco in Texas recently, with them adjusting history in text books to suit their political ends is nothing new.
Hail Columbus and hail the founding fathers “unalienable rights, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” unless you were an indentured servant or a slave, then you only counted 3/5ths of a person.
Hail the Great Emancipator, enter Jim Crow. 1929 Wall Street crash, FDR’s new deal, FDR is a communist, no jobs, WWII jobs for everyone.
The painting of Columbus as some sort of great hero fits right in.
It is gratifying to know that there ARE people, like the professor Robert Jensen (above quote) from Texas who are not falling for that crap. Otherwise one might erroneously think that the state is full of racists, rednecks, and revisionists.