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In reply to the discussion: Happy Columbus Day! [View all]MurderMittenLiberal
(92 posts)60. I have to agree
The day is named after Columbus and the holiday was created to celebrate his "discovery of the new world". He landed in a foreign land, enslaved the natives and profited from their exploitation. Howard Zinn described it best in A Peoples History of the United States,
Now, from his base on Haiti, Columbus sent expedition after expedition into the interior. They found no gold fields, but had to fill up the ships returning to Spain with some kind of dividend. In the year 1495, they went on a great slave raid, rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children, put them in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, then picked the five hundred best specimens to load onto ships. Of those five hundred, two hundred died en route. The rest arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by the archdeacon of the town, who reported that, although the slaves were "naked as the day they were born," they showed "no more embarrassment than animals." Columbus later wrote: "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."
But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. American Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.
But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. American Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.
Zinn, Howard (1980). "A People's History of the United States"
I'm not trying to offend here but I honestly get the same vibe as someone saying the confederate flag represents southern history as I do when someone says Columbus day is about Italian culture and pride.
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My family is from Italy, it does not celebrate us, it celebrates a mass murderer
obamanut2012
Oct 2017
#80
Umm, no and no matter how many times you post it. The American flag didn't exist in 1492. nt
PunkinPi
Oct 2017
#16
Celebrate Italian-Americans, but not Columbus, who was condemned/arrested in his own time
highplainsdem
Oct 2017
#12
The name of the holiday needs to be changed. It isn't just the "cruelty of thee 15th century" that
highplainsdem
Oct 2017
#25
If St. Patrick had been known for enslaving, torturing and killing the natives of Ireland,
highplainsdem
Oct 2017
#43
No it isn't, just as anti-trumpism isn't coded dog-whistle for anti-Bavarian....
George II
Oct 2017
#110
I don't agree with celebrating him but my son is happy to have the day off :)
Luciferous
Oct 2017
#47
And the Knights of Columbus is a right wing anti-choice, misogynistic society. n/t
geardaddy
Oct 2017
#91
Yes, like many other Catholic, Orthodox Jewish or observant Muslim organizations
oberliner
Oct 2017
#103
And for many areas of the country, this is when the leaves change is in the peak! (nt)
question everything
Oct 2017
#82
Columbus represents the beginning of the end for millions of people. A catalyst of destruction.
SweetieD
Oct 2017
#83
Do Italian-Americans still face systemic oppression and neglect in this country?
WhiskeyGrinder
Oct 2017
#89
Columbus Day is when ppl who think immigrants are thieves, rapists & murderers...
tenderfoot
Oct 2017
#113
If my Italian-American friends want to embrace this as their holiday I'm all for it.
lpbk2713
Oct 2017
#145