13 Oct, 2008
Columbus Day: an embarrassing celebration of atrocity
Americans ought to be ashamed that today is a National Holiday dedicated to Christopher Columbus.
Columbus Day has it’s origins in the archaic and discredited myth that Christopher Columbus was a brave explorer who “discovered” America and initiated widespread contact between Europeans and Native Americans. The fact that Columbus Day is still a national holiday suggests that we, as Americans, are collectively ignorant about certain facts:
1) Christopher Columbus never actually set foot in America. His four voyages took him around present-day Cuba, Haiti/Dominican Republic, and miscellaneous Caribbean and South American countries.
2) If it is possible to discover an inhabited place, then Christopher Columbus “discovered America” 500 years after the Viking Leif Ericson.
And this is the overlooked fact that should (but evidently doesn’t) cause us National Embarrassment:
3) Christopher Columbus Tortured, Murdered, Kidnapped, Enslaved, and attempted to forcibly convert thousands of natives, many of whom died from exhaustion, disease, or starvation.
So what are we really celebrating on Columbus Day? What we’re celebrating is an unnecessary excuse for the Government and the Economic Sector to have a 3-day weekend.
