Blissful ignorance can only get you so far and this phase has started to end for me. Not being a history buff or into historical events in general I’ve played the quite role silently listening, but not adding a perspective or any value to conversations that revolve around anything historical. These techniques have aided me well in preserving myself from utter embarrassment due to my lack of knowledge, but ultimately hindered my growth, insight and perspective of the world.
My memory does not serve me well and my recollection of Christopher Columbus was he sailed the ocean blue in 1942 and discovered America; a ‘Hero’ to be celebrated and honored with a day of remembrance.
The more I read the more my perspective has evolved from thinking of Christopher Columbus as a Hero and more of a Villain. In the readings written by Howard Zinn it describes Arawak men and women going into the waters to greet Christopher Columbus and giving the sailors a variety of gifts, painting a picture of peaceful people not an enemy to destroy (3). Columbus’s journal log further describes this first encounter: “They.…brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spear and many other things, willingly traded everything they owned.…They did not bear arms….They would make fine servants….With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want (Zinn 3).” It seems pretty clear that Christopher Columbus was not a victor for he did not encounter an enemy, but rather naïve innocent people that he could dominate, exploit, kill, enslave and utilize for his own gain. Knowing this would you be inclined to attend a Columbus Day celebration or would you join in the protest parades held on Columbus Day to support others who feel victimized by Columbus’s cruelty to Native American?
Personally, I would join the protest parades and I’d like to believe that others would as well if they knew of the horrific acts of Christopher Columbus toward Native Americans. So surely there must be something positive about Columbus that we are truly celebrating. Could it be the achievements of attaining his goal? Specifically, he was on a quest to find gold and spices on a westerly route to Asia. Columbus accidentally landed in the Americas; never making it to Asia or finding gold and spices and relied on fabrication to get a second voyage funded this time with a quest of slaves and gold. During the second voyage he still didn’t find the fields of gold he envisioned. Knowing that he couldn’t go back without repayment he captured the native people and shipped them to Spain to sell as slaves as repayment for his debts (Zinn 6).
So by luck it seems Columbus landed in America. Are we celebrating his ‘luck’? Or is it our patriotism and past teachings starting as a child that have lead us to believe he was a great and honorable man worthy of celebration.
REFERENCES:
BOOKS
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: The New Press, 2003
INTERNET
Kristie,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more. I was totally appalled after learning the truth about Columbus....to me, he's no better than Hitler or Stalin. It's a shame we are teaching our children that he is a hero, a pioneer. I know that's what I learned in school.
-Jackie