October has rolled around once again. The time of pumpkins and ghosts, hot apple cider, and a national holiday celebrating a conquering genocidal American 'hero'. We get the day off from work and school, get to spend time with the family, and let us not forget folks, we get to take time to reflect on the man who discovered* America!
*And by discovered I mean invaded, renamed, and claimed as his own.
As the nursery rhyme we all learned in grade school goes, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. The Italian explorer was ambitious and effective, we have to concede that. After convincing the Spanish monarchy to back his expedition in search of a faster route to the East Indies, he set sail westward toward the great unknown (to the Europeans at least).
We all know his story. Most of us who have been through the American school system can list off a few facts. He landed in the Caribbean. He thought he had reached India. He is the reason we have misnomered Native Americans as Indians for more than 500 years.
What we are not often taught in school, though, are the horrific acts of rape, theft, and genocide Columbus personally committed and encouraged. This is a man that has had a federal holiday dedicated to him since 1937.
"In just two years under Columbus Governorship through murder, mutilation, being worked to death or suicide more than half the 250,000 Indians in Haiti were dead."
And these are not little-known facts. The actions of Columbus and the many explorers that followed him are well documented. The start of the Atlantic slave trade, the colonization of the Americas, and the expansion of European power to encompass the entire globe can be attributed to the 'great explorers' of our history books.
"Columbus not only sent the first slaves across the Atlantic, he sent more slaves than any other individual."
I do not believe in celebrating a man who caused the death of thousands. I do not believe in getting a day off from school to honor the legacy of a man who ruled and enslaved with abandon.
A growing alternative to Columbus Day is Indigenous Peoples' Day. Many places in America have begun to rename the day to honor the first people of the Americas. The state of Vermont, Phoenix, AZ, Minneapolis, MN, Seattle, WA, Denver and Boulder, CO have all adopted Indigenous Peoples' Day. Hawaii and Oregon have never recognized Columbus Day, and Alaska and California have created separate holidays in celebration of Indigenous people.
This growing change is a tiny step toward the future. A step in recognizing the atrocities committed against Native peoples, the continuing disenfranchisement of current Native populations, and the glorification of a white European murderer.
Bill Means told Minnesota Public Radio back in 2014, when Minneapolis adopted Indigenous Peoples' Day:
"We discovered Columbus, lost on our shores, sick, destitute, and wrapped in rags. We nourished him to health, and the rest is history," Means told MPR. "He represents the mascot of American colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. And so it is time that we change a myth of history."
Here I am, hoping that while you may get the day off on Monday, you might spend a moment reflecting on the history of our country, and of those who truly suffered at the hands of colonialism.
