Christopher Columbus…A Man Not Worthy of Praise
By: Madison Anderson
I was
one of those kids that went through elementary, middle and high school taking
everything for face value. I believed in history everything that was given and
never looked further into the reality of history. I had the perceived notion
that there was less rape, alcoholism and the idea that the men were all
gentlemen with the need for unified justice. Now since being in this course
those thoughts have completely changed and I am glad to be a more-well-rounded
citizen in the knowledge and history of our country.
After
reading the article about Christopher Columbus I do not know why we still
recognize a man who killed thousands of people, to the point of making them go
extinct. Why honor a man who would do this? He sold little girls into sex slave
and little girls meaning the “desirable” ages of nine and ten.[1]
To me this is not okay to teach children in school about what a wonderful man
he is because in reality he is not. If our schools are going to educate our
children about him then to me they should be educating them on the whole truth.
Some
other things that I found to be horrific that Columbus did was how horrible he
and his men were in general. Knowing they would cut of the slaves hands for not
having the quota in on a daily bases, people would die from starvation, they
cut off children’s legs if they tried to run away.[2]
Something that may be asked is how do you know this? And for an answer we can
say, “well Columbus said so himself.” His diary is quoted with in this journal
and he speaks of these horrible actions himself and he speaks of them as if it
were not horrible things but need actions. Once again why honor him?
I
myself want to change this holiday. It is not even a holiday it is a horror
worthy of disgrace and being shunned. The reason I believe we keep this holiday
is because we as a country do not want to be recognized as a country built off
hate, bloodshed and sex trade. I believe changing this holiday is needed. It
might seem minute in comparisons to other situations but it will make a
difference in the fact that we recognize that it was wrong and we should not
honor a man who was filled with such evilness and hatred.
Kasum, Eric. Columbus Day? True Legacy: Cruelty and Slavery .
10 11, 2010.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-kasum/columbus-day-a-bad-idea_b_742708.html
(accessed January 29, 2014).
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