Should Columbus Day be Celebrated? - Keona Holden

Should Columbus Day be celebrated? By: Keona Holden 

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On the first day of my History of American Sexuality class, my teacher said that we would be learning about Christopher Columbus. When she said that I thought, “Why would we learn about Columbus day? What does that have to do with sex?” Little did I know Christopher Columbus had a lot to do with American sexuality. During week 2 of class, we were assigned a reading that told the truth about Columbus Day. While reading the article I learned a lot of important information that was skipped over during my early education. The Columbus Day celebrated by many Americans was originated by the Knights of Columbus which is a Catholic organization that was in search for a Catholic hero as a role-model for the children of this religion to look up to.(1) They decided to just focus on the positive and helpful things that Columbus did rather than harp on the negative aspects of his life. Christopher Columbus is usually thought of as the person who discovered America, but this is not true because there were people in America before he came here, Native Americans. Also a Viking named Leif Ericson also founded America about 500 years before Columbus.(1) The article also points out how Columbus was much less than a hero. When he discovered the Bahamas, he noticed the people there were extremely nice.

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After realizing that the natives (Arawak) didn’t have any weapons, Columbus decided to take advantage of these people. He confiscated their land for Spain and forced them to work as slaves.(1) Columbus eventually brought over attack dogs as a punishment for slaves who didn’t produce enough or for slaves who tried to run away to freedom. That’s not even the worst part; when the dogs ran out of dog food to eat, Arawak babies were killed and fed to the dogs. People around Columbus knew what he was doing was wrong. The Governor Francisco de Bobadilla arrested Columbus and sent him to Spain. But unfortunately the King and Queen of Spain let him free because they were profiting from Columbus’ nasty and wicked acts. That was not his only horrendous act. He also played a big part in selling native girls into sexual slavery.(1) These girls were minors who ranged from the age of 9 to 10. Columbus wrote "A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand." in his journal. (1) The article then goes on to ask why we don’t celebrate people who actually make a positive difference in other lives. I definitely agree. After learning about all of Columbus’ violating acts, I think that we should not celebrate Columbus Day, even if we get a day off from school or work.

 Sources
1. Huffington Post, "Columbus Day? True Legacy: Cruelty and Slavery." Last modified October 11, 2010. Accessed January 31, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-kasum/columbus-day-a-bad-idea_b_742708.html.

2. "Remembering Christopher Columbus: The Biggest Mass Murderer In History [Video]." HipHop Wired RSS. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. http://hiphopwired.com/2010/10/11/remembering-christopher-columbus-the-biggest-mass-murderer-in-history/