Columbus Day vs. Indigenous Peoples' Day

It is easy to see why Columbus is considered a fool and a scoundrel. He miscalculated the distance from Europe to Asia. He brought new diseases to the Americas, or at least led the way so others could spread those diseases. After he arrived, he murdered and plundered, or at least led the way so others could do the murdering and plundering.

 

If he had not discovered America someone else would have done so later, likely with the same results. The only difference would be in the names of some streets and cities. It has become very popular to criticize figures from the past by applying today’s knowledge, values and standards of behavior, but apparently that’s where we are. 

 

However, if we are going to hold Columbus accountable, it’s only fair to take a closer look at the suggested alternative holiday name and hold those people to similar standards.

 

Some facts come from this publication from the University of Arizona. “Indigenous populations engaged in warfare and ritual violence long before European contact.” They were not the innocent, peace-loving people of recent depictions.

Another source continues, “Contemporary accounts from both European and Indigenous sources reveal that the pre-Columbian world was a place where slavery, trafficking, sexual exploitation, oppression, and even genocide was commonplace prior to any European contact.”

A Harvard University site includes a history of slavery by indigenous people. “Slavery existed in North America long before the first Africans arrived at Jamestown in 1619. For centuries, from the pre-Columbian era through the 1840s, Native Americans took prisoners of war and killed, adopted, or enslaved them.

 

After the arrival of European settlers, such behavior continued. “Comanche were specialists in torture, they were also the most ferocious and successful warriors — indeed, they became known as ‘Lords of the Plains’.” They are described as “imperialist and genocidal” relative to both neighboring tribes and white settlers. “When they first migrated to the great plains of the American South in the late 18th century from the Rocky Mountains, not only did they achieve dominance over the tribes there, they almost exterminated the Apaches.”

 

The Smithsonian Magazine tells of the practice of black slavery by the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribes. “The Five Civilized Tribes were deeply committed to slavery, established their own racialized black codes, immediately reestablished slavery when they arrived in Indian territory [after forced resettlement], rebuilt their nations with slave labor, crushed slave rebellions, and enthusiastically sided with the Confederacy in the Civil War.” One native chief in Mississippi owned a plantation of “15,000 acres” and had “400 enslaved Africans under his dominion.”

 

Can we hold all Native Americans responsible for the brutality and mistakes of a very few and cancel their holiday, when most of them were just trying to live their lives as best as they could? That doesn’t seem fair, but it’s exactly the same treatment the police have been getting lately. Not to do so smacks of selective outrage.

 

As a solution we might take page from the British calendar and change the name to October Bank Holiday – except don’t get me started on those evil bankers!