Should Columbus Day really be celebrated?
By Byler E. Henry
This year’s Columbus Day was October 10. When I was in elementary school, I was taught that Columbus discovered America and he sailed the ocean blue in 1492.
How could he discover land with inhabitants already?
There is a story that was not taught in school; Christopher Columbus was an evil man who captured the native people using them as slaves. We were fed lies as kids saying Columbus was a brave explorer, when in reality he was a greedy invader.
He was born October of 1451 in Genoa, and at the age of 41 with three ships, the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria, made his first voyage to what he thought was Asia. He made it to the coasts of Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Central and South America
Once he saw the native Taino people he already had slavery in mind, “These people are very unskilled in arms… with 50 men they could all be subjected and made to do all that one wished.” – Christopher Columbus.
He also stated that they would be “good servants.”
The Taino were friendly people who traded animals, supplies, and jewelry with the sailors and what did they get in return? Slavery, and loss of limbs for not giving Columbus enough gold.
The sailors also brought diseases from Europe that the Taino people had not been exposed to, and within decades the full blooded members of the Arawak were wiped out.
And this is a guy that gets a holiday in America?
Why does a savage murderer like Columbus get to be recognized and admired like he accomplished something great?
What has he done to deserve admiration?
All he has done was murder in his quest for riches. Look at what his greed has done.
Some states do not celebrate this day, and the other states should follow suit.
Now that I know what an evil man he really was, I will continue to recognize the second Monday in October for what it really is, just another day that God has given us to love one another.
I also want to leave you with this quote to marinate on: “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.”
— Erich From
