Happy Genocide of Native American People Day Everyone… Lets All Go Buy A Mattress…

Happy Genocide of Native American People Day Everyone… Lets All Go Buy A Mattress… 

Catchy title huh – sad but true.  

Columbus Day as it is really called (for my international friends), is an American national holiday that commemorates the so called “discovery” of the new world by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492. It was recognized in a number of cities and states as early as the mid 18th century, but did not acquire official national holiday status until 1937.  

The last 80+ years unexpectedly has morphed Columbus Day into nothing more than a cheesy sales gimmick for furniture and electronics sales, and the true ramifications of what Columbus actually did, have been lost in the noise and more or less forgotten to history.  

Fortunately over the past decade, Americans have begun to realize that despite his many literal “earth changing” accomplishment’s, Christopher Columbus was nothing short of a genocidal madman.  Some of history’s most famous psychopaths pale in comparison to the scope of heinous deeds committed by Columbus in the name of colonial expansionism, and it can objectively be said that it was all done unilaterally, and contrary to the wishes of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, who even imprisoned Columbus and his brothers briefly for their crimes – but that’s a story for another post. 

I’m not going to delve into that topic specifically, or any other particular aspect of Columbus’ legacy too much (it is however very relevant to the conversation), for this post I want to explore the changing attitudes of Americans in relation to Columbus’ true legacy, and try to make sense of the overall social and political ramifications.

 

Exploring the differences of opinion on this topic (as it is with most things in America these days), tends to vary dependent on where the political and social positions of the people lie. This is apparent if you look at what states observe a traditional Columbus Day versus the states who have abandoned Columbus Day and have begun to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead. Although there are some exceptions, the overall correlation remains regardless of the outliers.  

To see what states celebrate Columbus Day versus Indigenous Peoples Day: Click Here 

Despite the changing public opinions about Columbus, most people still remain unaware of the truth regarding his horrific exploits in the Americas - and the clouded legacy he left the world. Liberal – left and conservative – right ideologies still remain for the most part a determining factor in the debate (if not controversy) over eliminating Columbus Day. Unfortunately politicians on both sides are content to “leave things alone” until being literally forced into changing their positions by public pressure to do so.   

I hope in the not too distant future, we can appreciate Columbus’ contributions to the world, recognize the horrors he inflicted upon indigenous peoples, and not celebrate his legacy as if he were just some adventurous explorer… 

Until then…  

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, not just to rape and pillage, but for other horrific things too… La la la - la la - la la la la – do da do da… I like my version of the song much better…

Thanks for reading… 

MDG…

     

Images courtesy Google Images