The Columbus attitude
Columbus Day no reason to celebrateThe Columbus attitude has justified U.S-Indian policy all the way from stolen lands and broken treaties to recent attacks on tribal sovereignty and the failure to make good on Indian trust funds.
Currently, mainstream America has a "just get over it" attitude to native peoples, dismissing our grievances as political correctness gone awry. But in the recent words of an elder, "If the shoe were on the other foot, Americans would carry laminated copies of their ancestors' treaties until they got their just dues."
Asking the U.S. government to abandon Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples' Day is akin to asking for a sea change in the national psychology. It demands a soul-searching objectivity that is simply too threatening to the mainstream culture and economy. 
Currently, mainstream America has a "just get over it" attitude to native peoples, dismissing our grievances as political correctness gone awry. But in the recent words of an elder, "If the shoe were on the other foot, Americans would carry laminated copies of their ancestors' treaties until they got their just dues."
Asking the U.S. government to abandon Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples' Day is akin to asking for a sea change in the national psychology. It demands a soul-searching objectivity that is simply too threatening to the mainstream culture and economy.
posted by Rob at 3:35 PM
9 Comments:
How about a Columbus Day item concerning the "Pastwatch" novel, which I know you like? Or is something like this elsewhere?
Writerfella here --
After reading the posted article and only finding the numbers at fault (110 MEG, not 10 MEG), I found the suggestion of a day for GW somehow appropriate. But it wouldn't have to be created, just re-named: COLUMBUSH DAY. Now, that's irony!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Recently, I made a comment to a coworker about Columbus Day. (I was annoyed because that morning I'd watched the news, and during a commercial, I'd heard a furniture salesman telling the public to 'be sure & cash in on the great Columbus Day Specials'! WHAT? Are they selling Pinta patio sets? Nina nightstands? Good grief!) Anyway, she stared at me for a second then answered, "Well, it may be silly to talk about ads in reference to Columbus, but I don't understand why you Indians get so irate about a once-a-year, one-day tribute to a great discoverer. (Sic) For God's sake, Kai. You people have all of NOVEMBER for yourselves." And off she went in a self-righteous huff. ALL OF NOVEMBER? Can it REALLY be that people consider Thanksgiving OUR holiday? They still want to parade us thru' the pilgrim line and call it even for every injustice they've ever visited on us? It infuriates me. I think I may have to go buy myself a Santa Marie sofa and lie down and sulk. Columbus - BAH!
Writerfella here --
Herewith a Columbus Day memory: A few writer friends and I were in Ports O' Call, a tourist trap 'fishing village' on the bay at Long Beach, CA. In a curio shop, we spotted four small brass galleons mounted on a plank, and I said, "Ah, the four ships of Columbus!" And Ed Bryant said, "Four ships? Name them." And I replied, "The Nina, the Pinta, The Santa Maria, and the Santa Christina." And Gus Hasford said, "The Santa Christina? How come we never heard of that one?" And I said, "Oh, it fell over the edge."
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Good joke, especially if you came up with it spontaneously.
The coworker may have been thinking of Native American Heritage Month (November), which includes Thanksgiving. But that isn't comparable to Columbus Day since it's not a holiday.
Writerfella here --
Spontaneous? Well, as inspired as it could be when a bunch of writers are communing as friends. You've done the same, I'm sure, with your writer friends. We all were ex-Clarion workshop types and we commune alongside the best of 'em.
I recall going back by bus to Oklahoma after my first Clarion and being lonesome for the kindred spirits that had surrounded me for six weeks. The bus was entering St. Louis and everyone else was oohing and ahhing at The Gateway Arch. Spontaneously, I spoke aloud: 'That's the second biggest arch I've seen this week!' Boy, did I hate being the only one on the whole bus who got my joke!
The Santa Christina, by the bye, was among the 17 ships on Columbus' second voyage to 'the Indies.'
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Writerfella here --
POSTSCRIPTUM: And now a Columbus Day mystery. In 1494, on the 2nd voyage, when Columbus re-visited the people of Espanola (Haiti), he was told that 'Black people' had come on ships and then departed just before his arrival. As proof of the visit, Columbus was given metal spearpoints that the 'Black people' had left behind as presents. The metal, called 'quanin', later was analyzed in Spain and found to be 18 parts gold, 8 parts copper, and 6 parts silver, identically consistent with metal known to be forged in African Guinea.
This fits directly into that earlier post about 're-revising' Native history, and you'd almost expect to hear Rod Serling intoning that 'other ships may be just over there, past the horizon, in the darkest regions of The Twilight Zone.'
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
I've read about pre-Columbians coming to the Americas, but not about Columbus finding their artifacts. Wikipedia and other sites confirm this point:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-oceanic_contact
http://faculty.mdc.edu/jmcnair/Joe26pages/Who%20Came%20Before%20Columbus.htm
Interestingly, Bartolomé de las Casas quotes Columbus speculating on the African origin of Indian cloth. So even back then, people were aware that Columbus probably wasn't the first. This is another reason to demote him from "discoverer" status and remove or rename his holiday.
Incidentally, Ports O' Call is in San Pedro, not Long Beach. I know because I grew up nearby on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Writerfella here --
Lucky it wasn't Portuguese Bend!
Whatever the case, we were in San Pedro to take a whale-watching boat. While we waited in line for the boat to offload, my friends asked people leaving if they had seen any whales. And the answer was, not even one!
Since it had been my idea and the tickets cost $9, they all looked askance at me. "Okay," I said. "Let me ask the Grandfather." I did, and then I sang the Kiowa children's song about prairie dogs -- Tsado, tsado, tonh-ba-thote-they, ay-tonh thote-thay, chee, chee, chee. Come out, little prairie dogs, sing and dance for us.
And we boarded the boat, sailed out just short of the breakwater wall, and a huge whale broke surface before we even had left the harbor. Then, at sea, we saw a whole pod of whales, some spouting foggy breaths, and there even were some calves among their number. Without a word, after taking many photographs, my friends each bought me a beer and we all enjoyed the brisk ocean air.
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
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