Columbus Day Should Be One Of Mourning

Just finished reading a freshly pressed post by Scott over on theSkittzo about why we even bother to celebrate Columbus Day.  This is certainly a valid question and one I have pondered for years.  First off, the only thing that Columbus discovered was that people had already discovered the “new world”.  New to him, and new to others who had arrived before him, including the first inhabitants indigenous to the area.  As Columbus, Colon in some circles, sailed from island to island, he and his crew enslaved the locals and left a trail of plunder, pillage and murder, all in quest for gold and other treasures.  What a sorry chapter of world history.

And so we honor Columbus with a national holiday.  Our multi-billion dollar textbook industry  presents him as a hero, and whitewashes American history.  Only a few schools have the courage to present the truth or at least another version of history- A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn.

We get the day off.  Some of us go leaf peeping on that day. But I think the holiday should be a national day of mourning.  When I’m out today traveling around southern New England – down to Connecticut – I will do so with a black armband.  I will not forget.