Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples | Will there be a change?
Should Columbus Day become Indigenous Peoples Day in the US?
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COLUMBUS |
I never understood why we have a national holiday for a man that never stepped foot inside what is the United States of America and basically has NO connection with this nation, whatsoever.
However, you could replace it was a holiday that might have wider public support too. Say, American Heritage or Family Day. Something along those lines.
This could be a day where the focus is on the American family and how one’s ancestors came to become AMERICANS, or in some cases, how immigrants came to this country. It would be a fascinating holiday, and could bring people together. The focus could be that this is a shared identity, although there is a lot of variety. Various groups that want to be heard or celebrate their own unique backgrounds would have a platform like anyone else.
Personally, I love Highland Games, German or Scandinavian festivals, St. Paddy’s day parades, etc. I love anything that might be described as an ethnic celebration or festival, and learning about different people. I also love projects like Dr. Henry Louis Gates that does family research (genealogy) and contextualized history. I find it to be a healing process, and a positive thing. Even if we uncover darker truths. It’s good to face them squarely, and honestly. And then form a greater understanding, which might lead to building closer relationships.
As the holiday stands now, it is somewhat associated with Italian American heritage, although it seems to be at the expense of Native American history. We are glorifying a man that was basically an evil tyrant. That he was from Genoa or had some proto-Italian affiliation is beside the point.
Yeah, time to change this holiday, one way or another.
Although Columbus was a bad guy, his trip transformed the globe, and as a result, I am sitting where I am right now. Want the 13 or the 15th? No problem. There wouldn't be a US, Canada, or Mexico without him. Without 35 nations, we would not be present today. You cannot ignore the effects, and even though the Spanish and Portuguese did engage in intentional genocide, the majority of those who perished as a result of the Columbian exchange did so as a result of exposure to diseases that the Europeans brought with them without realizing what they were doing, and the majority of them did so without ever having the opportunity to interact with a European. The Chinese may or may not have been here first, but there is no question that they were capable of doing so, just as Portuguese fisherman, Polynesians, and, of course, the Vikings were. Neanderthals were able to travel to Crete more than 2,000 years ago, which would have taken more than a single day. The isolation of the Americas was never going to persist, is what I'm saying. Since it lasted as long as it did, it's surprising, and in my opinion, the pandemics were inevitable.
What can be done to lessen the challenges of indigenous people?
You'd need to specify who the indigenous people are that you're referring to.
There isn't a universal solution.
We are all native people in the fullest sense possible. At the very least, we are all natives of the planet Earth, a truth that is forgotten and disguised in these days when pressure groups and minorities use language for their own purposes.
In reality, there is more than that. Any kid born is, in my opinion—and I really believe this—indigenous to the area it is born. To argue differently based on a "group's" affinity with a location over particular historical periods is unfair and unjustified.
A fault of our language perhaps. No mater which, still not legitimate.
So the point is there’s a valid ‘general indigenous’ which is the whole human race and the question then becomes what can best be done to reduce our human struggles?
And the answer to that has always been obvious, I think, despite the horrific history of the human race: be kind to each other, do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.
Maybe that generalization has some relevance occasionally to certain "indigenes" that you would be worried about. Because I am aware of several instances where individuals' contempt for their fellow members of their communities—both locally and more broadly (the greater tribe)—clearly hurt their own well-being and chances for the future.
Or maybe you’re more concerned with indigenous minorities here and there on the earth suffering organized state sponsored persecution and that’s a terrible question.
The answer there is that general ‘loving’ one, of course, but we all know there’s damn all chance of these states ever giving up on their persecutions.
That’s what the UN and the WHO are there for, I think, aren’t they? To exert pressure and advice on States to urge them to adopt more benevolent principles - become ‘nicer’ ?
At the center of your question is simply how to stop groups being discriminated against either by accident of geography or by deliberate design? And I wish I knew an answer beyond that lofty ‘spiritual’ one, but I don’t.
Grow up. We all need to grow up. And open our eyes and see the truth.
The many truths. Some that people don’t want to see. Such as in some instances indigenous people are suffering because they insist upon it. They set themselves apart and put themselves in situations where viable economic growth would be very difficult and that generally signifies social growth, too.
And then they have the temerity to keep their children within that ‘prison’ of artificiality they’ve built. And so on….
Yep, in this world there’s many a self harm, many, but it pales into insignificance against the harm visited on our children who are indoctrinated, programmed, steered, coerced, intimidated and trapped, forced into molds that do them no good - all to satisfy our own mistaken ideas of what is right and proper - even, in our madness ‘ordained by god’.
Perhaps if we maybe started there and turned our attention to our children, whoever we are, and decided to do what’s best for them? That might move things in a better direction?
