13, October 2014 Revoke
Columbus Day
Christopher Columbus was allegedly the first ‘illegal
immigrant’ to arrive into the “New World” in 1492.The day evokes a great deal
of sadness and anger among Native Americans, who object to honoring a man who
opened the door to European colonization, pestilence and the slave trade.
Bucking the prevailing holiday, Seattle City Council unanimously adopted a
resolution to celebrate the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’
Day.
Socialist City Council member Kshama Sawant stated that "we’re making sure that we acknowledge the absolute
horrors of colonization that happened in the Americas at the hands of the
European so-called explorers, and Columbus was one of the primary
instigators." He was a prolific slave owner. The European mission
launched a war of terror to plunder and pillage, and was responsible for mass
enslavement and a genocide, which reduced the population of the indigenous
communities within a few decades from about 150 million to a few thousand. Hollywood bears much of the responsibility
for their negative stereotyping of native Indians as wild natives who deserved
to be killed by handsome cowboys giving rise to the hideous, deplorable slogan,
“the only good Indian is a dead Indian.” It is time to acknowledge the sins of
Christopher Columbus, revoke Columbus Day, and construct a holocaust museum as
a living testament to our dark history. Finally, let us reach out to a native
brothers and sisters whose great culture is rapidly fading.
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