I look forward to American holidays. I’ll go up to Portland to say “What up?” to my family and friends for a day or two. Then I’ll head back to the grind again. I’ll probably try and make it home for New Years, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and maybe even Labor Day, if I don’t have to work. I look forward to all holidays, except one: Kolumbus Day, a day that remembers the trip that an explorer made to the Americas in 1492. Thereafter, he raped and pillaged his way into the history books and children songs.
The history of Columbus has been so distorted that it is hard to unscramble his list of false achievements. He landed somewhere in the Americas in 1492, yes. But nearly everything else he is remembered for is a fraud. He was no hero. He was a coward and a murderer of indigenous people. For sure, he didn’t discover anything.
The holiday that America celebrates on the second Monday of every October is the worst one of all: Kolumbus Day. It is recognized in parts of Latin America as “Dia de la Raza.” In the Bahamas and Caribbean it’s “Discovery day” or “Puerto Rican-Virgin Island Friendship day.” In Canada, they celebrate it in conjunction with Thanksgiving. It’s sad to think that such a universally celebrated holiday represents a phony discovery by a rapist and explorer: Kristopher Kolumbus. We even teach children nursery rhymes and lock down banks and government offices. Remember? “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Then what happened?
By celebrating on this day, you are celebrating the ongoing genocide on the native people of this continent and around the world. Recognize that Kristo was not all that the fictional writer Washington Irving made him out to be in his dramatic retelling of Kolumbus’ “discovery.” He paved the way for the Spanish armadas that wiped out continents rich with culture. So many of us are brainwashed by the stories of his heroic discovery and now, it is accepted as the only truth.
I can’t really imagine getting excited about a celebration of the violent conquest of the Americas. That sounds more like something the Skulls and Bones organization would do.
The establishment of this holiday is a sign of our American values. There are so many examples of the way we celebrate the destruction of indigenous cultures: Thanksgiving, cowboys and Indians movies, or even Indian sports mascots.
I whole-heartedly reject Columbus day and encourage all readers to join me in celebrating Indigenous Solidarity Day.
The day is an opportunity for communities to be united by addressing atrocities against indigenous people around the world. The Native American Student Union has organized Indigenous Solidarity Day for back-to-back years at the U of O amphitheater. NASU graciously opens the stage at the amphitheater each year to allow students and community members from local regions and from other parts of the world. Indigenous Solidarity Day is an example of peaceful form of resistance, a ceremony that unites people against international human injustice and build strong bonds of brotherhood.
Hearing the stories of the Native elders and testimonies of student leaders helped me realize the presence of colonial rule all over the world. The speakers brought positive messages to the University to ask for help on behalf of their people.
Many people are waking up, learning about the real and brutal history of the conquest of the Americas by colonial forces. By understanding the history of injustice all over the world, we can only hope that we can begin to heal collectively.
Events like Indigenous Solidarity Day counter Kolumbus Day’s distortion, disrespect, and destruction of Indigenous history. More events like it will unite more people together against a holiday that should never have been started in the first place. Kolumbus day should not even exist.
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