Happy Post Columbus Day and for all of you who got a day off, I hope you enjoyed it. And as you start up the workweek complaining about another day of work, remember that the nice break we just finished celebrating came with an unforgettable price.
No one can change history and go back to 1492. While it would be nice to imagine someone trying to knock some sense into Christopher Columbus, it did not take one man to colonize a nation; it took an entire empire to create what we label as the New World.
Land was seized from the Native Americans. Genocide occurred. The colonizers then fought amongst them selves and attempted to enslave what was left of the indigenous population, but were unsuccessful. So they invented a different means to carry out their ends by enslaving another population via shipping them over from Africa (a simplified narrative of history of course.)
Why remember a history that we can’t change nor ever justly giving retribution to the communities involved? Because while we can’t change history we ought to change how we dismiss it and learn from what it has shown us about humanity or lack thereof.
We should acknowledge the pain that can still be felt among these communities to really move forward. We should pay tribute to the people of this nation.
A great start would be following the lead of three other states {Alaska, Hawaii, and South Dakota] who do not observe the holiday, more out of logistical reasons, but a step in the right direction. OR if we are so invested in our three day weekend, respect those who allowed for this entire ‘American Dream’ to be built upon( pun intended) by calling for National Indigenous day.
Oh and just in case you thought I was just discussing history, you might want to explore the world and see how the ugly mask of colonization still grasps onto it so tightly. We continue to live in a world where you can place your hand on any part of the map and find forms of genocide, human trafficking, racism, imperialism, ecocide, patriarchy etc.
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