Columbus carried out this plan and committed genocide until there were no Arawak left in their homeland, their island. Is this the mindset that we wish to celebrate? Before I continue I would like to share more disgusting examples of what Columbus and his men did to the Arawak (according to Howard Zinn): hung 13 Natives at a time in honor of Jesus and his disciples, tore live children apart and fed them to dogs, enslaved mothers - overworked and underfed they could not produce enough milk to feed their babies.
It almost feels like the examples should be enough to convince anyone that Columbus was not a man worthy of remembrance.
There is a sinister force at work here; dark, invisible, pervading among all American citizens regardless of their origin (what kind of message does it send to immigrants when Columbus is celebrated at a federal level?) or method of elementary schooling. Historical guilt. It is the force that drives American historians and public school teachers to change history to myth, to remove or ignore murder, overt racism, and greed. (I feel that I am missing some big point here, this force is hard for anyone to understand and simply talking about it makes *every* person cry out 'But I don't think or feel that way! I know it's not my fault'. And yet it exists.)
To attempt to make myself clear, I need to highlight a line from the opening chapter of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States:
"To emphasize the heroism of Columbus and his successors as navigators and discoverers, and to de-emphasize their genocide, is not a technical necessity but an ideological choice. It serves- unwittingly-to justify what was done."
Unwittingly - no need to feel threatened by the unintended justification of Columbus' actions. What I would like to see is very simple. Change the tone of the day by removing his name, call it "New World Day" or "The world is round? Day" or something that has been meditated upon and voted in such a way that pesky historical guilt doesn't get in the way. Stop the harm that historical guilt is unwittingly causing.
I can't leave this post without pointing out that Columbus was a horrible navigator and his crew didn't discover America. Norse settlers living on Greenland traveled southwest to areas of Canada for timber, a full 400-500 years before Columbus.
The idea of Manifest Destiny began with Columbus, he claimed land because he had the power of a Christian God on his side. His actions set the stage for how all Native Americans would be treated and regarded. The end of genocide will not happen until he is no longer mystified as a great man and his name is no longer celebrated.
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