Content Note: This article contains discussion of colonialism, racist violence, and ableist and racist eugenics.
I find it funny when colleges have “Post-Colonial Studies” departments, as if colonialism is gone and done with. It may not be 1492 and Christopher Columbus may not be sailing the ocean blue, but that doesn’t mean that colonialism died with him. In fact, colonialism is still really prevalent.
First, let’s talk a little bit about Columbus. In America, we have a national holiday that celebrates this violent, cruel, and disgusting colonist.
“They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane…They would make fine servants…With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
Christopher Columbus wrote that in his journal when he first came across the indigenous populations of the “New World.” Notice the rhetoric he utilizes, specifically “ignorance.” The colonial creation of knowledge is always tilted to further the colonial project–favoring the “intelligence” of the colonizer over the “ignorance” of the colonized. This acts as a way to inferiortize the indigenous populations in order to keep them colonized. The “lesser” are considered the “weaker” and ergo are “easily subjugated.”
Bartolome de las Casas, the priest who accompanied Columbus on his quest to Cuba, detailed one of the many brutal genocides committed to the indigenous populations by the settler-colonialists:
“They took infants from their mothers’ breasts, snatching them by the legs and pitching them head first against the crags or snatched them by the arms and threw them into the rivers, roaring with laughter and saying as the babies fell into the water, ‘Boil there, you offspring of the devil!'”
These are direct quotes from their journals. Christopher Columbus was not some amazing guy that should be praised. He was a terrible colonialist. Look at these first hand sources and interpret them for what they are–violent and horrible.
These mindsets have been a part of our history for centuries, so is it really such a surprise that his mindset has been translated to modern times? Why are we trying to hide from the truth? We still live in a colonial world.
The United States still has a bunch of colonies around the world where violent colonial acts are occurring. The following places are still colonized by the US:
- Puerto Rico
- US Virgin Islands
- American Samoa
- Guam
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Hawaii
But, colonialism isn’t only reproduced via colonial “possessions,” there are also micropolitical neocolonial processes that exist to this day. For example, recently a young boy in Texas was denied access to school because his hair is too long. He is a member of the Navajo nation and hair is sacred to them. But, the school denied him entry unless he either cut off his hair to fit the white colonialist dress code, or proved that he was, in fact, a member of the Navajo nation. This is similar to what the colonists do with boarding schools. We tear children from their family’s arms and force the kids into boarding schools where they are assimilated to white culture against their will. When boarding schools were first established, posters plastered the walls that said, “kill the savage, save the man” supporting the continuous cultural and physical genocide of indigenous peoples. The colonizers would then force the families of the indigenous child to take pictures while wearing their traditional garb with their child forced into white garb as a humiliation tactic.
Colonialism is alive and well. Indigenous people are still living on reservations with barely enough resources to survive–blackened drinking water, no electricity, small food portions. We like to turn our back on these things. We like to pretend that we are no longer a violent empire. We like to teach “post-colonial” courses and pretend that everything is fine. Well, it’s not. Reality is a harsh, but we can’t ignore it. Otherwise, problematic names like the R*dskins and problematic practices like reservations will only continue. Awareness is important. Awareness is what helps propel movements (like how Seattle changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.)
Ignorance is not bliss.
