LatinaLista — Winston Churchill got it right when he famously said, “History is written by the victors.”
That statement has never been more true than on Columbus Day. Far from the idyllic school poem describing Columbus’ journey, there has been a growing realization among non-indigenous people that not everything was as sweet and innocent as the poem paints:
Stories that have been handed down through the ages don’t talk about peaceful meetings but violent conquests that lead to genocide of indigenous peoples at the hands of these New World explorers.
From the Huffington Post to the Nation magazine, cyberspace has been talking about a movement that began last year called Reconsider Columbus Day.
According to the web site:
By honoring Columbus with a federal holiday, our government continues to vehemently insult Native Americans and perpetuates a philosophy of racism and domination.
While it’s understandable that a tradition among Italian Americans has been built around honoring the legacy of Christopher Columbus with parades and pageants, it doesn’t erase the fact of what the world now knows about Columbus.
For that reason, a day to honor indigenous people, like Native Americans, is long overdue and can only serve as a small gesture to right a horrific wrong that history failed to acknowledge.
