In 2016, I'm astonished that we are still celebrating Columbus Day. Quite frankly, I thought we decided a while ago that Columbus was indeed not worth celebrating, and that we could afford to lose one day of Macy's sales. I suppose not. So despite its commercial appeal, why exactly is it that we are still celebrating Columbus Day?
(Also, Christopher Columbus isn't even his real name, It's Cristobal Colon)
Part of the reason is because a lack of thoughtful education is still leading many to believe that Columbus discovered America and should be praised. It's doubtful that most are learning the true stories behind Columbus and his journey across the sea. Unfortunately, that means we have to take this all the way back to 1492.
1492 is probably a date you know right off the top of your head - it's the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue - it even rhymes! That alone should give some indication as to how important Columbus is to primary education and beyond. We spend a lot of time contributing 1492 to Columbus, but truthfully, 1492 was an important year for the spread of Christianity, which has a lot to do with Columbus.
For all of my history nerds, 1492 was the year when Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand united what would be soon to be called "Spain," conquered the last Muslim stronghold state of Granada and expelled all of the Jews from the country. Isabel and Ferdinand wanted to build a Catholic state which ultimately lead to the inquisition - but that's another history lesson. 1492 is also the year when Isabel and Ferdinand gave Columbus the funds to sail the ocean blue to 1) find gold and 2) "spread Christianity."
So what does all of this have to do with Columbus Day? Well, that part is simple. Columbus Day is supposedly the celebration of the discovery of America and the spread of Christianity. We all know this is a fallacy because Leif Eriksson discovered America nearly 500 years before Columbus. And, the explorer for who the country is named, Amerigo Vespucci, is that one who discovered America was a separate landmass, and indeed is not Asia as Columbus thought it was. Christianity was only brought into the picture so that the trip would be funded at all. Columbus was denied funding by almost every other monarch at the time but Isabel and Ferdinand wanted Christianity, and Columbus was going to give it to them if it meant getting funds for his exploration.
So if no one has made this clear, I'll make it clear - Columbus didn't do sh*t. Columbus didn't discover America. Actually, Columbus didn't "discover" anything as there was an entire population of indigenous people who had occupied the lands before Columbus even thought to sail the ocean blue.
There's a reason we call the act of "discovering" or should I say "rediscovering" something or somewhere that people have known about forever is called "Columbusing."
So what did Columbus do?
He enslaved the natives, taking them prisoner as he so pleased, and even taking many of them back to Spain. To put this in plain words, Columbus started slavery of the indigenous people the second he landed on their grounds. He allowed the trading of girls as young as 9 years old for sex. He beat and killed natives for not producing enough gold. He brought sickness and disease. And in 20 years of Spanish Imperialism lead by Columbus in the name of "Christianity," he reduced a population of nearly 3 million to 60,000.
All of this being said, Columbus committed genocide of the indigenous people...and today we're still celebrating him for it.
It's time to stop celebrating. Stop the sales, stop the day off, just stop. Columbus was no hero or even much of an explorer at that. Thankfully, states like Colorado have seen the light and have changed Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day as it rightfully should be.
The least we can do is give Columbus Day back to the people whose resiliency survived his atrocities.
