What would you think if Germany decided to create a holiday to celebrate its great World War II leader, Chancellor Adolph Hitler? What would the world think? Perhaps Uganda should have an Idi Amin Day. What do they have in common? Genocide.
No one in their right mind would propose a holiday celebrating the life of a mass murderer–or would they? Unfortunately, we do.
October 14, we celebrate Columbus Day. We celebrate the life of a liar whose ambition was for wealth, for gold. This Italian, realizing that Marco Polo’s trade route was cut off by the Turks who had conquered Constantinople, reasoned that the earth being round, he could reach the riches of the East by sailing west. He convinced the king and queen of newly reunited Spain to bank role him. He promised them unlimited gold. They, in turn, promised him he could keep 10% of all the riches he brought back, and he would be appointed the Governor over lands that were not theirs. How generous!
We know he never made it to India. Some claim he discovered a new continent, but in reality, he had no idea of where he was. Thanks to a young priest by the name of Bartolome de las Casas, we do know of Christopher Columbus’ cruelty and his genocide of the native population, the Arawak Indians.
- We know that if they didn’t return to him with gold he would chop off their right hand and let them bleed to death.
- We know that those who fled his cruelty were hunted down with dogs and killed.
- We know that the Arawaks’ life under Columbus was so miserable that many committed mass suicide with cassava poison.
- We know that Columbus tried to make up for the lack of gold by capturing these people, shipping them back to Spain, and selling those who survived the journey into slavery.
Thanks to Columbus, eventually the entire native population was exterminated. So why do we celebrate Columbus Day? It is like celebrating Adolph Hitler Day.
What does this say about Catholic Spain? Why does the Catholic Church have a Knights of Columbus? Does it signify what they are really about?
Finally, what does Columbus Day say about us? Have we learned nothing? Shouldn’t we re-name this holiday Native American Day?
I think we owe it to ourselves that we are not a people that celebrates greed, cruelty, and racism. These are not our values; we are better than that. We can acknowledge the sins of the past, and we can work toward a better society, an inclusive society, a sharing society, a caring society. Perhaps like the one Columbus and his hit men destroyed.