Columbus Day? Bah Hum Bug!

Oh brother...tomorrow is what this country designates as Columbus Day. Really...should we? Must we? I demand a recount! The holiday does nothing more than advance a national ideology of celebrating invasion, conquest, and colonialism. It's the celebration of the colonization of the Americas. I can envision it now. Columbus is getting off the ship. He's walking. He's "exploring." He sees a native. He, then, proceeds to inform them, "This is not your country anymore. This is our country now...like it or not. It's our way or the highway." So, then, the celebration of Columbus, who was an AFRICAN SLAVE TRADER prior to coming to the Americas, began the colonization of the Americas, which essentially led to the rape and plunder of the land and the genocide of Native Americans.

First of all, the idea that he "discovered" America is absurd, yet this is what I was taught in grade school. How does one "discover" a land already populated by millions of people?! Columbus never set foot in North America, nor was he aware of its existence! He landed in the Caribbean, and his explorations were limited to Caribbean islands.

"But it's just a holiday...what's the big deal?" you ask. Hmm, ask any Native American or African American about it. The holiday celebrates the founding of what was to become a brutally expansionist, slave-trading, genocidal society by someone who himself was directly involved in such atrocities.

Could it be that Columbus was merely carrying out policies and practices considered socially acceptable for his time? Hmm...Spain was not a slave-trading country until Columbus. Desperate to prove the value of his voyage, Columbus hauled away Native Americans to be sold as slaves. Columbus initiated the practice of chopping off the hands of adults who failed to provide a certain amoount of gold each month. And, he was also responsible for setting up slave operations where he literally worked entire tribes of people to death.

So what do I think of Columbus and his day? I think it's a insult to Native Americans, African Americans, and any non-European Americans and a sickening tribute to a character totally undeserving of such heroic celebration. And the celebration sends the wrong message to schoolchildren about what is heroic. Columbus was not a hero; he was a slave-trading "Indian" killer!