Let’s Reconsider Celebrating Columbus Day

I don’t know of too many who celebrate it. I only know of government workers who get the day off work, but don’t really celebrate any more than they do on a typical Saturday. But you are right – I can think of a dozen more people more deserving of a national day off work than Christopher Columbus.

We used to get Columbus day as a paid day off but our company decided to change our day off to Veterans day instead.

Two holidays that need to be revealed for what they are: Columbus Day and Thanksgiving…It doesn’t bother me that some people reserve these days as holidays, reserve whatever you want, but making it a national holiday is what gets me. What bothers me most is the fact that we still teach our children lies. Both holidays celebrate the genocide and rape of Africans. and while yes people who don’t care can say, “move on”, but how can we when every year there is a reminder. Moving on would mean removing the “holiday” from our calendars.

I agree that Columbus is overrated. But blaming the guy for everything from slavery to genocide? Are you saying that the majority of, say, US citizens are not from european origin? Are mexicans not mestizos?

I don’t like the way things happened, but I can;t deny that I have a mixed heritage, with one part coming from the europeans. Should I feel proud given the history of massacre and slavery? Well, no. Should I deny my origins? Well, not either.

Yes, genocide is not fine. Slavery is not fine. But Columbus did not invent those. Just like he did not discover that the Earth was round. Just as he did not “discover” the Americas.

I agree that we should not celebrate Columbus. I disagree with blaming the man for being a product of his society. If not Columbus, someone else would …

What I mean by moving on is this: stop talking and start walking. As in, do something about it. If you’re curious to see what’s being done in my area on Indian reservations, visit http://www.suite101.com/content/pine-ridge-indian-reservation-wanblee-a290573

Hello?

Here’s a guy who’s last name is really Colombo (Italians don’t have names that end in a consonant)

So he’s using an alias… Very cool

He talks queen Isa (whom he’s having sex with) into getting her husband (King Ferd) to finance his expedition to the new world..He screws up, most of his men die, he is almost killed in a mutiny, somehow gets to the west indies, rapes and pillages, spreads disease steals as much as he can, sails back and is made a national hero of Spain..

And…he gets unjust credit for discovering the Americas!!!
Come on, a guy like this deserves his own day!!!!

Hahahahahaha

I think there are bigger issues then whether or not we celebrate Columbus day. I have never celebrated it, I have had a paid day off from work, of which I was thankful for. If you take a look at many different cultures from that time you would find that many participated in slavery. Natives took prisoners from other tribes during battle, Africans did the same, and Jews, well I think they have suffered the most out of any race, from being enslaved by Egyptians in Africa to the holocaust. No race is really innocent. It more just the way things were. Life was more barbaric, and there were more wars as different civilizations tried to grow and takeover the next. I say, it is men in general who are to blame. Columbus was just a victim of society and the current times. Did he discover America? I really don’t care, I’m here aren’t I, to me that’s all that matters. Live for the future not for the past. I am not going to be held responsible for what people did over 200 years ago. Was it unfortunate yes, but what can I do to change it nothing, how is dwelling on it going to change anything? Its not!

why don’t you get over it. you don’t even know your history. people like you just want to ripp this country appart. if it wasn’t for the founding father, soliders who died for you and al gore, you won’t even have the right to talk the silly talk you do. please leave if you have a problem every thing this country has done wrong. good luck finding one that is better you little lib ween.

can’t waite for you to focus on the spelling and gramer of this post insead of it messge.

I’ve always wondered why columbus is worshipped as a hero by some people. What happened to the natives of America afterwards was terrible?

Im german – we germans have been taking the issue “world war II” very seriously. We’ve been discussing it in public for 60 years now. Maybe US citizens should do so about their past aswell?

Shared this on facebook and twitter 😉

As I am typing this, I notice a rather nasty comment above it. Now more than ever, it seems that people are searching for things which divide us. The angry people getting in my face oon that video, and the Right-winger I just referred to.

We have a history. Some of it good, some of it bad. That’s what history is: telling a story about what happened, not about what should have or could have happened. It is true that the winners get to write the history books, but people ought to be enlightened enough to have a reasoned discussion. Here is my attempt at contributing to that end:

Columbus discovered America for the Europeans. Saying he discovered America without the prepositional phrase at the end of the sentence is so obvious that it needn’t be included.

Columbus took a risk in his search for a trade route to India (for the Europeans. Other people were trading with India at the time and required no seaway travel.) Now why would anyone want to read a history book that has to put in all the obvious facts I placed in the parenthises?

Jesus had no way of foreseeing the Inquisition any more than Columbus knew that h was carrying “invisible bugs” with him that was going to reak mass death upon the people he met.

Charles Darwin could not foresee that his book would be an inspiration for the Third Reich.

The person who invented the (first and second) wheel–one wheel is of little use–could not foresee the good and evil for which it would be used. That’s history.

I feel the same way about Thanksgiving. It’s OK to celebrate either, as long as equal time is given to the truth behind these factlets of history. These are great times to honor Native Americans and a culture that was all but obliterated in the name of geographic expansion.

Let’s understand that it’s unfair for us to hold historical figures to our current moral standards. The idea of equality of all humans is a recent one and would not have been comprehensible, let alone acceptable, to the people of Columbus’s time.

In comparison, look at the societies that Columbus discovered. Were the Aztecs and Inca so much more moral than Spain or the rest of Europe? The tribes living under the thumb of the Aztecs helped Cortez in the conquest of Mexico because they were tired of being the source of human sacrifices.

Columbus was a showman, but only someone like that could have pulled off the voyage. Was the discovery of America worthwhile? Speaking only for the United States of America, the answer is yes. Just like Columbus, we haven’t been flawless, but on the whole, we have become a great nation, one that is also getting better.

It is always sad when people apply modern standards to ancient peoples in a vain attempt to further their agenda.

To Reed Smith,
I agree that th article is an agenda. If it were not, the author would have placed the caption “Christopher Columbus, hero or villain?” instead of “Christopher Columbus Killer.”

By the way, I wonder how many deaths have resulted from Hip Hop? Just asking.

Another arm chair bigot speaks again. The race card is your only tool.
Was it the weed that had you dream up that the tea party is rewriting text books and removing from its curriculum discussion about slavery and iconic figures like Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall and United Farm Worker leaders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. This is crap and you know it. Where is your proof that this is what the tea party wants? Do you know that there are African Americans in the tea party? You probably haven’t even read any text books lately, yet you are an expert – right?
Get over the slavery crap as well, that ended 150 years ago. Everyone’s ancestors were salves somewhere. It does not make it right but it is not an excuse for your issues. Not unless you will rather sit and do nothing demanding handouts and cry about ghosts. You’re the real bigot and race hater – you should talk fellowship and what’s right to make things better, not cry because your great-great grandfather was a slave. We have a black president, Oprah is the biggest TV show, there are scores and scores of successful black business people, the same with athletes, singers, actors and artists. People of all races love them and are grateful for their wonderful contributions. Why aren’t you talking them up to inspire others? No, people like you would rather try to spread the hate and lies and perpetuate your bigotry – you are the real trash.
How much free money and services do you get from the hard working tax payers? Get a life and stop trying to ruin others.

Yes, a lot of history has been whitewashed, and true, Christopher Columbus was not a perfect man, but it would seem that you’ve still not got all of your facts straight. In fact, you’re perpetuating many of the myths you claim to be “revealing”.

And as to the Tea Party and educational curriculum… proof please. Where’s the links to evidence to back up your spurious claims?

This article made it to Fresh Pressed?! Yeesh. Pathetic racism disguised as fresh, counter-“the man” thinking.

Just the mere fact that the holiday is on the calendar is enough to disgust me. The man discovered nothing and destroyed everything in his path of glory. Nothing has been the same since his arrival. Have any of you out there even seen a 100% pure blooded Indian? Thanks to Columbus you probably never will.

No one cares whose name is on the holiday; Christmas is no longer about Christ’s birth, but about a jolly fat man in a red suit delivering gifts to children who have done good things in their life. People just care about getting a day off. That’s all that Labor Day really means to many people and basically the same for Memorial Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Yes, many people reflect and remember what MLK Jr. did, but the majority of people seem to just care about the day off.

And what typically goes overlooked by many people who hold grudges against Christopher Columbus is that had he not done what he had done, we might not have been alive. Eventually, yes, someone would have come along and brought European culture to the Americas one way or another, but Columbus did instead and with certain influential and powerful people that spawned a wave of explorers this way. Not all of it was pretty for Natives or African Americans – or basically anyone with any kind of skin color. But it happened and it produced us.

I’m half Cherokee and videos like the one you posted are supposed to make me feel hateful towards guys like Christopher Columbus. I’m supposed to rekindle my non-existent grudge for the forerunner of slavery and white supremism. But wait a minute… those things have existed for thousands and thousands of years! Going by this logic to hate Columbus, we should hate every major historical figure that ever owned a slave or condoned slavery.

No, the underlying logic to this “rethink Columbus Day” crap is exactly that: crap. It causes me to look over my shoulder to hundreds of years behind me instead of looking ahead to move on. The more time we spend on yesterday, the more time we waste in dealing with what we have before us today. If it means so much to a lot of people to have “Columbus Day” changed to something else, then keep your grudge alive for the rest of your life because that’s probably how long it’s going to be before the day gets changed. As for me and the rest of the world who would like to move on, we’ll focus on today’s problems.

Great post. What I think most people are missing is this; how do you discover a “new” land if there are people on it? Um, didn’t they discover it first? And when we use the word ‘discovered’, doesn’t this only mean from the European perspective? See papal bull Romanus Pontifex in 1452 or inter caetera on wiki if you wish to learn more of the then European perspective and its impact on today.

Check out my website for other lesser known truths on my medical school if interested http://aucunknowntruths.wordpress.com.

A total genocide. People should really rethink about certain aspects. I do agree with Jeremy about move and see the future, but also I think we must no forget that European came to America to kill thousand and thousand of people.

@ MuslimAct: Yeah, I totally agree that we should not be ignorant of what actually happened in history – especially areas of minorities being snuffed out. And I still hear of the side effects of the Allotment Act and how many Natives are fighting to find a way to thrive in the U.S. My dad – whom I’ve never known – was a drug addict, one among the many Native drug addicts. It is a serious issue that does need to be dealt with, but where my disagreement with the attacking Columbus lies is that it seems as though it’s trying to cause people to cling to a grudge that they may have never had or have already let go of. Dwelling on yesterday isn’t going to get anything done. Studying yesterday with the purpose of making tomorrow better, however, will. I just don’t think this “rethink Columbus Day” commercial really does a good job of promoting that. It attempts to appeal to my emotions, my anger, against all the horrible things done to Natives throughout history. But that doesn’t do anybody any good. It just promotes a different target to hate.

If you look at the origin of anything really, you’ll find plenty of evidence to complain about, dismiss it, or “rethink it” However that does nothing to correct the problem, this is just another video highlighting the problem. The important thing it that we are here, and if it were not for what it was we would not be here, simple… so be greatfull for what you have because of those who suffered as opposed to complain about what could have been and wasn’t.

Sorry, Columbus did not set the stage for genocide and slavery. He was simply an explorer. If anything, the King and Queen of Spain who sponsored him were much more responsible for that. Sadly, at that time Europe was ready to jump on the bandwagon and take over the “new world”. They wanted to expand, the word got out there was a lot of land available for the taking, and the time was right (for them) to move on in. Many countries and explorers had been to America before then, it was just not feasible to expand until Columbus came along, European countries got the news about America and had the wherewithal to expand. He certainly should not be blamed.

I agree that textbooks should not be omitting Thurgood Marshall, Cesar Chavez, et al., and I think the “discovery” of America should be rewritten, with Columbus in the mix, but also with the Chinese (much eariler) and others noted, and the expansion of Europe being mentioned instrumental in the colonization of America by “others”, when there was already an indigenous group of people living here. Blaming Columbus is not the answer. I think our reconsideration should come by expanding our knowledge to include what really happened to form the America of today.