Christopher Columbus Ideology
Christopher Columbus is portrayed as a daring explorer who aided in founding and discovering most of the New World. Hispaniola had been inhabited for many years before Columbus finally arrived in 1492. In fact, an entire ethnicity and culture had formed on the island long before his trek to the New World. In venturing to the aforementioned New World, Christopher Columbus systematically killed and enslaved hundreds of innocent indigenous peoples.
Columbus braved the seas in 1492 to the New World in hopes of civilizing the savages and populating a so-called empty continent. Students are taught from a young age to see Columbus in a heroic light, despite the cataclysmic truth behind the founding of most of what we now call the North-Western Hemisphere.
When Columbus first landed in Hispaniola it was alive and populated by Arawak, a tribe indigenous to the island. Columbus and his men saw this new island as a field of gold that belonged solely to them, ordering all Arawak peoples 14 and older to present a certain amount of gold to them every three months. If a person was unable to adequately supply said gold, both of their hands were chopped off, eventually causing them to bleed to death. By the year 1650 the Arawak tribe had been completely and utterly eradicated, leaving nothing other than the tragic narrative of the genocide of an entire race that the American public has turned a blind eye to for centuries.
A government holiday dedicated to a man who took credit for discovering an already populated and established area is disgraceful, especially considering the fact that he never once stepped foot in North America. American citizens, particularly teachers, should utilize Columbus day as a way to inform others of the Arawak tribe and its many sufferings. Every citizen should be properly educated on the enslavement and massacre of the Arawak tribe at the hands of Columbus and his men.
Columbus braved the seas in 1492 to the New World in hopes of civilizing the savages and populating a so-called empty continent. Students are taught from a young age to see Columbus in a heroic light, despite the cataclysmic truth behind the founding of most of what we now call the North-Western Hemisphere.
When Columbus first landed in Hispaniola it was alive and populated by Arawak, a tribe indigenous to the island. Columbus and his men saw this new island as a field of gold that belonged solely to them, ordering all Arawak peoples 14 and older to present a certain amount of gold to them every three months. If a person was unable to adequately supply said gold, both of their hands were chopped off, eventually causing them to bleed to death. By the year 1650 the Arawak tribe had been completely and utterly eradicated, leaving nothing other than the tragic narrative of the genocide of an entire race that the American public has turned a blind eye to for centuries.
A government holiday dedicated to a man who took credit for discovering an already populated and established area is disgraceful, especially considering the fact that he never once stepped foot in North America. American citizens, particularly teachers, should utilize Columbus day as a way to inform others of the Arawak tribe and its many sufferings. Every citizen should be properly educated on the enslavement and massacre of the Arawak tribe at the hands of Columbus and his men.