Why We Hate Columbus Day (And Why You Should Too):
graphic by alexa kroin
We’re going to be blunt. If you celebrate Columbus Day, you are voluntarily commemorating Indigenous genocide and supporting the American master narrative. Now, it’s understandable that you may not know why Christopher Columbus is a literal villain. You probably only got a fourth-grade level education regarding Native history, and everything else your school system taught you is most likely a lie, so allow us to be your teacher for a few minutes.
We all know that “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” but why did the creator of this (in)famous rhyme decide to leave out the part that Columbus and his men were the instigators of mass genocide? This group of “explorers” are responsible for the deaths of over 15 million Indigenous people (for comparison, the Holocaust’s highest death estimate is around 11 million).
Our middle school textbooks usually started the sugar-coated story by making us feel bad for the white guy. Portugal and England denied his plan to find an alternative water route to Asia until sympathetic Spain agreed to fund his journey. Both parties were optimistic about the idea of “new land” and the opportunity to force Catholicism upon millions of people, so they were overall a great team! Throughout school, we were taught that Columbus was the first European to set foot in the Americas. Even though this claim is entirely false, our elementary school teachers continued to feed us this information year after year. Teachers told us that he peacefully traded with the “Indians,” with no pushback, yet, in reality, Columbus enslaved hundreds of Natives and forced them to work for him and his crew.
Christopher Columbus dared to call Natives “savages,” yet raped and killed millions of women and children, allowed disease to ravage Indigenous communities, and attempted to wipe out an entire race. Honestly, there’s something to be said about our society if we continue to celebrate a holiday that honors a whole racial demographic’s horrific mistreatment. Sorry Italians, but allowing America to celebrate Columbus Day directly supports the false information the school system has taught us and further perpetuates the whitewashing of Indigenous history. Speaking of whitewashing, the US education system has whitewashed natives since the beginning of time—remember dressing up as an “Indian” for your school’s Thanksgiving play? Or, how about the limited discussions surrounding Native culture and behavior? Be honest with yourself, what else do you know about Native Americans besides headdresses and dreamcatchers?
It’s understandable to see Columbus as an Italian-American icon because he opened up doors for many of you to celebrate your heritage freely, but Native Americans didn’t have that opportunity until 1978 when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act allowed them to exercise their traditional religions and culture. And not only that, Columbus was the catalyst to the decades-long discrimination against Indigenous people that continues to this day. From the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement to the debate on whether Native tribes should have a say on land issues, settler colonialization has affected Indigenous life since 1492, and celebrating a holiday that has negatively impacted generations of Indigenous families is fucking disgusting.
Anyways, Happy Indigenous People’s Day!