shimmer

The truth about Columbus is that he never discovered America. There were already people here, for one thing. The allegedly hot-tempered explorer stole from, murdered, raped, mutilated, and enslaved the Native people of Hispaniola.

Columbus wrote in his journal:

"They don't bear arms and do not know of them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance...They would make fine servants...With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

And that's just what they did, right unto the Arawak's near-extinction. They shipped slaves back to Europe, though most died on the way. Other slaves were kept in Hispanola mining gold for the Europeans; if they couldn't produce enough gold, their hands were lopped off by Columbus and his crew. The Natives were so miserably mistreated that mothers drown their infants to save them from the suffering and slow death. Pick up a copy of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States for more of the real story.

Now, of course, some people think that what Columbus did when he came to this country is just great. In "Columbus Day: A Time to Celebrate" by Michael S. Berliner, Ph.D. at The Ayn Rand Institute, Berliner writes:

Prior to 1492, what is now the United States was sparsely inhabited, unused, and undeveloped. The inhabitants were primarily hunter/gatherers, wandering across the land, living from hand to mouth and from day to day. There was virtually no change, no growth for thousands of years. With rare exception, life was nasty, brutish, and short: there was no wheel, no written language, no division of labor, little agriculture and scant permanent settlement; but there were endless, bloody wars. Whatever the problems it brought, the vilified Western culture also brought enormous, undreamed-of benefits, without which most of today's Indians would be infinitely poorer or not even alive.

Well, Mr. Berliner may think life was "nasty, brutish, and short" before Columbus came, but there's no doubt that life for the Natives was nasty and short after Columbus came. It's as if Mr. Berliner thinks Natives couldn't have evolved without us nifty white folks killing them and stealing their land.

Columbus Day should be abolished--you can sign a petition here.

Posted by Jean on Monday, October 11, 2004 at 10:30 AM | Permalink