Christopher Columbus the Killer
Tomorrow many folks throughout this country will take the day off to pay tribute to a man who set the stage for genocide and the slave trade here in the United States. Yes we’re talking about the man they call Christopher Columbus who is still being taught to us in schools as the guy who ‘discovered’ America. Folks need to seriously reconsider.
It’s interesting to note that while many far right tea Party types are hard at work 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, they are hell-bent on keeping the myth of Columbus going. There’s no mention of any of heinous crimes or the fact that he was an inept explorer who got lost and wound up on this country he supposedly discovered..
The only thing worse then perpetuating the benign myth of Columbus is not talking about how our founding fathers were slave owners.. Thomas Jefferson’s mistress Sally Hemmings was a slave. When the Declaration of Independence was signed with the edicts ‘All men are Created Equal’ those who were enslaved were seen as 3/5th human. Yes we must reconsider Columbus Day.