200 Arrested in Denver Columbus Day Parade Protest

[G_j]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&u=/nm/20041009/us_nm/life_columbus_dc&printer=1

200 Arrested in Denver Columbus Day Parade Protest

Sat Oct 9, 4:17 PM ET

DENVER (Reuters) - About 200 American Indians and supporters were arrested on Saturday for standing in the path of a Columbus Day parade in downtown Denver that commemorates the Italian explorer they blame for the genocide of indigenous peoples.

Carrying signs that read: "Columbus: America's first terrorist" and "We were here first," about 300 opponents of the parade stood in its path. Police stopped the parade a block before it reached the protesters and told them to move. About 200 refused and were arrested.


In 1907, Colorado became the first U.S. state to make Oct. 12 a holiday, the reason American Indians have campaigned in Denver for 15 years to change the name of the holiday. The holiday has been changed to the second Monday in October.


"We're here to protest a few racists who continue to honor Columbus," said Russell Means, a longtime American Indian activist.

..more..

[Warpy]

1. Columbus Day is a big deal in the North End of Boston

It seems to be a reason to change the headline on store circulars in the Sunday paper in the rest of the country.

Other Europeans had already "discovered" the Americas. Columbus is celebrated only because he's the first European Imperialist to have done so.

[pretzel4gore]

3. omg the sopranos are having a show about it!

dammit...tony s etc think columbus is heroic! the sopranos is best show on tv, and it'll be interesting to see how they do it!

[Freddie Stubbs]

28. That was a couple of seasons ago

It think that it was the 4th season IIRC.

[Wwagsthedog]

4. Check this out for a different take on who "discovered" America

http://www.1421.tv/

The book "1421" is really interesting if your're into "revisionist" history.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. Why is it "revisionist" history to discover real history and report it?...

Additionally, there are plenty of historical anomalies throughout North America. One of these is the Old Stone Tower in Newport, R.I.:

<http://www.bigbertis.com/oldmill.htm>

[Wwagsthedog]

25. Read the book, 1421,

then ask questions if it doesn't answer them. LOL at your fall for the the tongue in cheek. Enjoy!

[TankLV]

36. A "discovery" is a discovery, whether good or bad ultimately.

A discovery is of no value if you keep it to yourself - like the Vikings or other groups who "arrived here first".

Regardless of the extent of damage or good, Columbus' discovery and voyage was important for mankind and, yes, civilization.

You can argue the merits of the deed, the Spanish wiping out the indeginous culture - with the help of that local indeginous culture (which would more appropriately be a condemnation of slavish devotion and belief in superstition and religion more than anything else), as well as the fact that this great country - or used to be great country before the current crop of repuks and fundies got ahold of it - and its experiment in democracy.

For this fact alone - the importance that one man did with it - is why we signify this date.

The fact that the man - Columbus - was such a racist and religious thug - with the support of the Catholic Church and leaders of the day - should be discussed and disected and widely taught. The importance of the "day" could be turned into an educational event to avoid committing such atrocities in the future.

[G_j]

37. "civilization"?

there was civilization in the Americas long before Columbus. And ironically the principals for this "experiment in democracy" were also taken in most part from the Iroquois Confederacy.

Important for humanity? Well I guess it could be rationalized that any conqueror who commits genocide and/or steals the ancestral lands of a people is "important". In that sense Bush is "important for Iraq, China is "important" for Tibet and Hitler "important" for the Jews and Gypsies.

[Pow_Wow]

38. "important for mankind and, yes, civilization."

boy if that ain't the white man's way of seeing it!

[proud patriot]

2. We don't celebrate that holiday (kids still go to school) in California

I believe in Berkely they re-named it
Indiginous Peoples Day ....

[G_j]

5. Indiginous Peoples Day ....

is what it should be officially renamed.

[Carolab]

6. Maybe it should be called "World Trade Day"

On October 12, 1492, two worlds unknown to each other met for the first time on a small island in the Caribbean Sea. While on a voyage for Spain in search of a direct sea route from Europe to Asia, Christopher Columbus unintentionally discovered the Americas. However, in four separate voyages to the Caribbean from 1492 to 1504, he remained convinced that he had found the lands that Marco Polo reached in his overland travels to China at the end of the 13th century. To Columbus it was only a matter of time before a passage was found through the Caribbean islands to the fabled cities of Asia.

Columbus was not the first European to reach the Americas—Vikings from Scandinavia had briefly settled on the North American coast, in what is now Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, in the late 10th or early 11th century. However, Columbus’s explorations had a profound impact on the world. They led directly to the opening of the western hemisphere to European colonization; to large-scale exchanges of plants, animals, cultures, and ideas between the two worlds; and, on a darker note, to the deaths of millions of indigenous American peoples from war, forced labor, and disease.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568472/Columbus_Christopher.html

[meow2u3]

19. Columbus gave America its name

He really didn't "discover America" as was written in the history books. He just pitched his tent and made a fortune for Spain--at Native Americans' expense!

I'm 1/4 Italian and I deplore the way my ancestors treated Indians!

[steely]

24. Excellent points.

but I humbly submit, Vespucci had a small role in the name.

[DrWeird]

26. Really?

I didn't think it was labelled America until some years after his death when a cartographer named it America after some of Amerigo Vespucci's voyages.

[G_j]

16. Berkeley's 13th Annual Celebration

http://www.red-coral.net/Pow.html
---------------------------------

[proud patriot]

23. Woo Hoo , got to love Berkely

:D

[Skittles]

7. I'm with the American Indians on this one

absolutely

[Ima]

8. Read

Howard Zinn....A Peoples History of The US. What we were never taught in History class. I'm for the Indians on this, what was done to them (and poor people) was despicable. This country has never been what most of us thought it was.

[Coconut Buddha Ape]

9. That book was eye opening

I remember, as a college freshman in my Intro to Anthropology class, rambling on about "social darwinism" and "putting the past behind us". God, I must have sounded like a freeper.

I would like to apologize for those remarks.

Zinn's book was the final nail in the coffin of my Republican upbringing. After reading that (about a year ago), I knew that there was effectively no going back.

My parents hate the break I have made from the family ideology. My mother still really hasn't accepted it and calls me her "little liberal" (with all the attendent sarcastic inflections).

Thinking about what we did to the indigenous population hurts. A lot.

But willfully ignoring the reality of the genocide that occured as a result of US governmental policy hurts more.

I hope the protesters' charges are dropped.

[liberalcanuck]

11. I really liked your post and admire your ability to do what has become

a lost art -- the ability to empathize.

You've inspired me to pick up Zinn's book.


Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[G_j]

12. "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee"

by Dee Brown is also highly recommended. It is often possible to find a copy in a second hand book store.

[newyawker99]

31. Hi Coconut Buddha Ape!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Skittles]

13. I've read several books on the real history of America

and know what a crock of shit "Columbus Day" is. Yes indeed.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

20. "Columbus's wrote in his ship log: "They...brought us parrots and balls..

cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanges for glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned...They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features...They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They would make fine servants...Wiith fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do what ever we want."

Columbus also wrote: "As soon as I Arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts."

The information Columbus wanted was .....Where is the gold?

These Arawaks of Bahama Islands were much like the Indians on the mainland"......from Howard Zinn's "The Peoples History of the United States "

[Southpaw Bookworm]

32. "Morning Girl" by Michael Dorris

It's actually a children's book, but it backs a powerful punch. Throughout the book, you read about this native girl and her brother and the lives her people lead. The narrative ends with her seeing some strange creatures out to sea. You turn the page and read a diary entry from Columbus about what good slaves the natives they "discovered" are going to make and how animallike they are.

You realize quickly that Morning Girl was a Carib islander and that the strange creatures she saw were Columbus's three ships. And you also realize what fate is going to befall this beautiful, intelligent child.

[coreystone]

10. More of the people of this country should be aware of our ....

imperialist beginnings. Those nations of people who were conquered by the Europeans; and, then victimized by the total bastardization of history, regarding the its lack of legitimacy, should be supported. I find this protest most honorable!

:-)

[G_j]

14. "Cristopher Columbus is a damn blasted liar, yes Jah"

Columbus, by Burning Spear (Winston Rodney)

I an' I all I know
I an' I all I say
I an' I reconsider
I an' I see upfully that:

Cristopher Columbus is a damn blasted liar
Cristopher Columbus is a damn blasted liar, yes Jah

He say 'im that he's the first one
Who discover Jamaica, I an' I say that:
What about the Awarak indians ?
And the few black man who were down here before him ?
The indians could'n hang on a long long
Here comes black man an'oman an' children
A ina Jam Dung run ya
Whole heap a mix up, mix up
Whole heap a ben up, ben up
Ha fi straighten out

Cristopher Columbus is a damn blasted liar
Cristopher Columbus is a damn blasted liar, yes Jah

What a long stay from home
I an' I longing to go home
Within a red, green an' gold robe
Come on, twelve tribe of Israel
Come on, twelve tribe of Israel
A outa Jam Dung land ya
A whole heap a mix up, mix up
A whole heap a ben up, ben up
Come on, twelve tribe of Israel
Come on, twelve tribe of Israel
A outa Jam Dung land ya, yes Jah

Cristopher Columbus is a damn blasted liar
Cristopher Columbus is a damn blasted liar, yes Jah
He's a liar, yes Jah
He's a liar, yes Jah
Columbus he's a liar, yes Jah
_____________________________________________________________________
NOTE: The Arawak indians were the originial inhabitants of Jamaica:
they didn't survive for long. The name "Xaymaca" is Arawak, meaning
"Island of Springs"
Jam Dung: Jamaica, "Jam" to press down "dung" down. Ironic reference
to social and economic conditions of the masses (from the Patios
dictionary at the Jammin Reggae Archives)
Ben up : "bent out of shape", which is why it " ha fi straighten out"
- another spark of light from the one Shokkolat
_______________________________________________________________________¦
from the Reggae Lyrics Archive @ http://hjem.get2net.dk/sbn/reggae.htm ¦
and from AndRaas' Reggae Lyrics @ http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Quarter/2670/
_______________________________________________________________________¦

[FlaGranny]

15. It should be called

"500 Nations Day".

[angka]

17. i was there.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=142x2021

really need to check LBN before posting, eh? :)

[G_j]

18. wow great post!

thank you and everyone for being there and once again attempting to raise awareness.

There are many levels to the Columbus day controversy but I think it is inappropriate to continue a historical falsehood.
Also Columbus was not someone to be proud of regardless of his nationality because of his treatment of the indigenous ppl he encountered. I would also like to see Andrew Jackson, father of the "Trail of Tears" seen for what he was.
There are 'heroes' but these folks ain't in that category.

Want a hero? Chief Joseph day? There are plenty of true Native American heroes.

[Book Lover]

29. I completely agree

We Italian-Americans should be celebrating Dante's birthday in June, and the idea of Indigenous People's Day should take root and grow prolifically.

[truthbetold]

22. Awesome.

Protesting the glorification of a killer.
That's the spirit of America, right there.

[0007]

27. Did Congressman Ben Nighthorse Campbell lead the charge?

He came to the senator floor all dressed up in his Indian gear but I bet he couldn't be found to support his brothers on this protest, 'eh?

[devilgrrl]

30. The way some Italian-Americans embrace Columbus is such a joke!

First of all Italy wasn't a nation back then. Genoa, where Columbus is from was under Spanish rule. Southern Italians hate people from Genoa.... never mind that Columbus never hit the mainland USA... what's there to admire?

[Asher]

33. Sad sad sad...

That's one part of American history that needed to be corrected. Columbus not only did not "discover" the Americas, but he began the system of genocide and enslavement that ravaged the native peoples for centuries. I hope all 200 protestors get off scott free.

[submerged99]

34. 2 websites of those arrested

There are 2 websites where people can get more information about why 235 people decided to block the parade.

They are.
www.coloradoaim.org/blog
www.transformcolumbusday.org

[G_j]

35. much thanks

I'd recommend everyone check these out.
Hats off to AIM and others who have been doing these protests for years. The reply to the city councilman by Tink Tinker is right on!