C*lumbus Day & Indigenous Peoples Day
A violent and genocidal history:
For Indigenous peoples all across the Americas, Christopher C*lumbus, and therefore C*lumbus Day, represents the violent history of genocide sparked by the Italian “explorer.” C*lumbus is most famously credited with “discovering” the Americas, continents that prior to 1492 had been inhabited by millions of Indigenous people for thousands of years. While he did not “discover” anything he did bring disease, genocide, slavery, racism, and exploitation to these communities therefore decimating the population and creating lasting trauma still effecting Indigenous people today.
Starting in 1492 till 1504, C*lumbus took four voyages between Spain and the Americas. He set out to chart a western sea route to China and India but instead landed in the Bahamas. After landing in the Americas C*lumbus named the Taino people “Indians,” naively believing that he had landed in India. Throughout his four voyages C*lumbus and his fellow Europeans tortured, raped, murdered, exploited, and enslaved the Lucayan, Taino, and Arawak peoples.
The Indigenous people were subjected to C*lumbus’s tribute system which required all, aged fourteen and above, to provide a hawk's bell worth of gold every three months. Those who did not provide enough gold were subjected to barbaric punishments like having their hand cut off and being left to bleed to death. Settlers under C*lumbus also sold Indigenous women and girls into sexual slavery. Columbus himself in the year 1500 recounted, “… girls … from 9-10 … are … in demand.” Thousands of Natives committed suicide in order to escape C*lumbus’s brutality. After decimating much of the Indigenous population through smallpox and murder, C*lumbus began another form of abhorrent, brutality and sent ships to enslave African people, beginning the Atlantic slave trade. Bartoleme de las Casas, a Spanish priest, witnessed and documented many more atrocities committed by his fellow European invaders against the Indigenous peoples. He is quoted saying “I saw here cruelty on a scale no living being has ever seen or expects to see.” Las Casas also wrote, “Our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy…” which is exactly what they did.
In 1792, 3oo years after C*lumbus’s landing and reign of tyranny, the first C*lumbus Day was celebrated as a way to “honor” his so-called accomplishments. In 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made C*lumbus Day a US national holiday. It is still today a US federal holiday although it is not celebrated by many states.
At a 1977 United Nations conference, Indigenous people made the first call to action to correct C*lumbus Day to the rightful Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Currently, it is not a US federal holiday but is recognized in other countries and various states and cities. Why is this switch so important? Because C*lumbus Day not only celebrates the man who initiated colonization but it erases the truth. This erasure of history is purposeful and continues to contribute to the marginalization of Indigenous peoples.
How can we combat the erasure of Indigenous peoples?
How do we combat this erasure? With celebrations like Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Celebrations and stories of Indigenous survival, resilience and resistance. And depictions of Indigenous peoples flourishing, not dying. Also, by recognizing the truth. The truth is C*lumbus began the Indigenous American genocide and the Atlantic slave trade. The truth is also that the victims of these heinous atrocities have not only survived, but thrived, which is the representation we so desperately need.
