The ugly truth about Columbus Day
Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean and discovered Hispaniola, leading to the “discovery” of America.
Every year, students across the nation get Oct. 14 off of school to celebrate Columbus Day. This national holiday celebrates Christopher Columbus, the man who sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and was thought to be the first person to discover America. Columbus seems like a decent man, right? After all, he did discover our nation and his voyages ultimately give American students a day off of school every year.
Yes, the Italian voyager Columbus did sail from Spain to the New World and accidentally discovered Hispaniola after looking to find a direct sea route to China. This is true. What many people fail to know, however, is that upon exploring the New World, Columbus acted very hostile towards the indigenous people that were living there.
Columbus used violence and slavery to take advantage of the Native Americans, he forced many Native Americans to convert to Christianity and brutally killed off most of the Native American population. In addition to this, he spread many deadly diseases to the indigenous tribes, which ultimately killed millions of Native Americans.
In Rhode Island and San Francisco, people vandalized statues of Columbus to protest the holiday. On the statue is written “genocide.”
I think that celebrating a man who killed so many innocent people for power, land, and money is very wrong. The American education system glorifies Columbus to young kids by teaching them about his voyages and discovery of America, leaving out the fact that he murdered innocent Native Americans and enslaved them to work for him.
“I enjoy getting the day off of school, but I hate knowing that I’m celebrating a man who killed so many people,” said Tea Pantelic, senior.
I can’t lie, like any other student, I enjoy getting Columbus Day off of school. However, I believe that there is a clear solution to this controversy. All schools should celebrate “Indigenous People’s Day” on Oct. 14 instead of Columbus Day. This way, people would instead honor the Native Americans killed by Columbus.
“I know many people who now refer to Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day, and I think it’s a great thing,” said John Malec, freshman.
I think the Native Americans killed by him need more recognition, and this is a perfect way to do so. In addition to this, students would still get Oct. 14 off of school, and so it’s a win-win situation.
Many people across the United States have started protests to abolish Columbus Day, like this one in Arizona.
“When you talk about getting rid of the holiday, it’s important that you remember it means different things to different people,” said Ms. Sanskruti Patel, history teacher.
As more people learn about Columbus’ brutal killings and hostile relationship with the indigenous people, I hope our nation does something to inform younger students about this. After all, I personally don’t want to celebrate a man whose legacy is this controversial.
Meghan Malec is a senior who can be found hanging out with her friends and binge-watching Netflix shows in her free time. Her free time, however, is very...
TheNotSoBadColumbus • May 14, 2021 at 8:14 am
I have come across this article and just wanted to express my disagreement with it and apologize if anyone could think differently to what I´m about to write. Columbus could hardly kill the millions of natives he was supposed to massacre. Conquerors at the time where hardly a few hundreds. although the Spanish soldiers and army where at the time the most experienced and trained in the European kingdoms, being the army “special forces” of that age in Europe, is not possible for such reduced number to kill millions of people. Although it´s true that sickness traveled from Europe to America, killing thousands of people whose immune systems were not ready for new deceases, also Europe was affected by sickness that traveled back from America. Why no one explains how North American natives where exterminated by the brand new created Country that obtained the independence from the British to expand their territory?. It is estimated that the population of North American Natives were of up to 12 million in the 16th century, well after Columbus was gone. Only 250.000 were left at the beginning of the 20th century. Blankets with smallpox given to natives, Sand Creek, Wounded knee, General Philip Sheridan and the killing of more than 3 million bison that starved to death thousands. Does this ring a bell?. The Act for the Government and Protection of Indians (Chapter 133, Cal. Stats., April 22, 1850) is not probably of any interest for anyone. Surely Columbus has not been the worst person that the great American continent has known. One person cannot be blamed for the last 500 years that the continent has lived. History is too complex to understand and analyze without understanding the society and circumstances at that time. This does not seem to be a fair judgement. Ignorance is a very dangerous advisor. We all must be more responsible. There´s lots of history books, articles and information out there with different views and opinions about Columbus, the discovery of America and the conquer and colonization of the continent by the European kingdoms of that time, Spain and Portugal initially and also England and France later. Please, make some research. While other historic figures have been real killers, planning the execution of massacre of millions of people, Columbus was just a product of the circumstances of time in which he lived.