Another Stereotype of the Month entry:

Rob's reply
I'll let correspondent Wade Wofford do most of the replying (in italics).

>> As an observer at this meeting I only had one question: Where are the Indians? <<

Mostly dead of the aforementioned genocide. Native Americans make up less than one percent of the overall US population. They are also disproportionately restricted to the lower income groups and/or restricted to geographic enclaves. As such, there were not many Native Americans available to draw upon for that meeting.

>> This meeting was announced in the Denver Post and on the Internet six days prior, yet the only Native American to attend was Dr. Yeagley. <<

See above...not many Indians left to begin with (although rapidly increasing in numbers!), many of those who do exist are either in isolated rural areas & reservations OR economically disadvantaged & less able to spend the time & expense money involved in attending this meeting. Not to mention that Denver's parade organizers have vociferously defended the parade (in the face of protests) every year for a number of years without showing any signs of changing their minds...any Native American aware of the meeting would ALSO be aware that their presence there would not be likely to change anything.

Also, one doesn't have to be an Indian to protest the glorification of Columbus's mediocre record. History is everyone's business.

>> Many cities and towns throughout the US celebrate Columbus Day with a parade of those involved in their communities. Last year in New York, the parade's grand marshal was the chief justice of the Supreme Court. The parades and events are positive happenings that promote civic pride; personal and industrial achievement of immigrants. America is a nation of immigrants. <<

No, America is a nation only PARTLY comprised of immigrants...and the descendants of immigrants. The baldfaced arrogance involved in calling it a "nation of immigrants"...which totally EXCLUDES the aboriginal inhabitants (& which lumps people whose ancestors arrived here centuries before the American Revolution into the same class as Johnny come latelys who just got off the boat!) epitomizes one of the problems with the Columbus Day celebration.

So...celebrate "Bjarni Herjulfsson Day" (actual first European discoverer of the Americas), or Leif Ericson Day (who popularized that discovery & made the first exploration & colonization attempts)....THEY at least were not slave traders & didn't initiate genocide. Celebrate a generic "Explorers Day", encompassing everybody from the first Native American arrivals to modern venturers into space and under sea. But don't celebrate Columbus....

>> The TCDA claims that Christopher Columbus was the forbearer of these immigrants, and that the goal was and continues to be the obliteration of Native Americans. Excuse me? My parents ran from Hitler and came to America over sixty years ago. I was born in the US, along with millions of other first generation Americans. I have visited my parents home country, and I have little interest in going back where they came from. I came from here. <<

No, you were merely born here...genetically & culturally you came from "there".

>> I am not Italian, Austrian, Catholic, or Jewish. I am not a Conquistador. I am some guy from Chicago. (Go Cubs!) I am an American. <<

An American CITIZEN, not necessarily an American per se...and one who doesn't wish to delve too deeply into the ethical morass surrounding his race's presence in the Americas.

You're an American of some European ancestry—presumably some combination of German or Polish, Christian or Jewish. That makes you a German (or whatever) American like me. In other words, quit pretending as if your family's meager 60-year history in America is equal to a Native's 10,000-year history.

>> I am a professional techno-geek, but I am not one dimensional. I'm involved in my community in a positive way. I seek to build and support a community of individuals who each in their own way make our country a better place to live, work, and raise families. And I find Columbus Day a way to meet with those who do the same. <<

If you find you need "Columbus Day" to do these things, you need to try harder. There are ample alternatives out there....

>> Christopher Columbus was indeed an Italian. He wanted to find a route to India for trade. His government wouldn't fund his journey, so he elicited the help of the Spanish government. After many months of sea travel he landed on what we now know as the islands of the West Indies. He thought that he'd reached India. His intent was commerce, not genocide. <<

Yet...he initiated a deliberate COLONIZATION effort in the Caribbean, in which CONQUEST rather than "commerce" was the deliberate aim. And he was responsible for the enslavement and export to Europe of over 3,000 Taino Indians...most of whom died in the process...IN DEFIANCE of his orders from the Spanish crown.

When you enslave and kill people for profit, commerce and genocide are the same thing.

Columbus had no clue
>> He had no clue that there was a giant landmass that we now call the Americas between Spain and India. <<

Not before his initial voyage...due to his being a poor geographer (he miscalculated the circumference of the earth, leaving no room in his calculations for a "giant landmass" between Spain & India). But he became aware of his error quickly enough (his actions fit someone who knew he was in a new world, NOT someone who felt he was on the geographic proximity of a powerful empire that offered trade potential but would punish colonial incursions)...he merely refused to publicly admit it because his contract with the Spanish government stated that he wouldn't get paid unless he succeeded in reaching the Indies.

>> And no one else did either. <<

False. The Scandinavian inhabitants of Iceland (& at the time, likely still in Greenland) did...as did certain Scandinavians further east, who were aware of Sagas detailing the Norse explorations. MANY European geographers were at least theoretically aware of an unknown land, or the probability thereof...it is obvious when you compare the calculated circumference of the world to the expanse of known land as of 1492.

Some researchers believe Phoenician, African, and Chinese sailors also reached the Americas.

>> In subsequent years, the Spaniards sent legions of armies to do what the TCDA claims that Columbus set out to do. The Spanish enslaved and wiped out generations of native peoples in North, Central, and South America. They sought gold and jewels. I first learned of this in grade school. There was nothing hidden in this history lesson. <<

The facts aren't evident if you stage a parade without mentioning them. That's the problem the TCDA seeks to correct.

>> The leaders of the TCDA don't seem to counter these historical facts, but they make it known that they believe that Italians are responsible for what the Spaniards did. I have to wonder why these folks aren't railing on the Spanish? I'm sorry, but I think that they are a bit confused. <<

I think you are. The TCDA attack is on COLUMBUS, not on Italy per se. Not that Italy is entirely innocent, due to extensive Papal/Vatican involvement in the Spanish Conquest.

See Those Evil European Invaders for lots of "railing on the Spanish." They were the first in a long line of evildoers.

>> The TCDA claims that the native population was a group of peace loving peoples. The native of the Americas were fighting amongst themselves long before any Europeans arrived. They made war on each other and enslaved humans of other nations (which we have called tribes). <<

Intergroup violence among Native American Nations WAS less common that it was after European invasion stirred the pot. Europeans introduced guns & diseases & dispossessed tribes of their land, upsetting old balances & escalating the level of violence. Rationalizing the European invasions on the grounds that the aboriginals weren't TOTAL pacifists & saints is just that...a rationalization.

There was also a CONSIDERABLE difference between "slavery" as practiced throughout Native America & slavery as practiced by Europeans. In the Americas, enslavement was only in very rare cases a hereditary condition (more typically, the offspring of slaves were free tribal citizens, and slaves were often freed through adoption or marriage), granted it's victims far more human rights than existed under Europe's version of "slavery" (treatment was milder, options oftimes existed to protect or free mistreated slaves, etc. Among the Aztec, codified laws dealt with mistreatment of slaves...and in extreme cases could result in the reversal of slave-master roles, with the mistreated slave freed AND owning his prior master in compensation).

I doubt the TCDA has made any such claims. Claiming Columbus did bad things isn't the same as claiming Indians did nothing bad.

>> Dr. Yeagley calls the interaction between Europeans and Native Americans a "car wreck". <<

One in which Europeans were drunk drivers, and Native Americans the pedestrians standing between the enrushing car & their homes....

See Yeagley:  Columbus Not Responsible for 500 Years of History for more on Yeagley's view of Columbus.

>> Europeans did trade with the friendly natives when they first arrive. <<

And they also commonly kidnapped these selfsame natives to use as translators, to indoctrinate into Christianity, or simply to sell as slaves back in Europe. They also used guns & cannons to rob or intimidate Natives.

The historical record shows that abuses far outnumbered ethical interactions.

>> They also defended themselves against attacks from the unfriendly ones. <<

Translation: The Indians defended themselves against the Europeans who tried to rape and pillage their homelands.

Europeans moved Natives out
>> As new generations of in the New World grew in size they moved west where they encountered more natives. <<

Translation: "As more immigrants arrived to join the colonization effort, they moved west to force MORE natives off their land".

>> They were not always met with friendly commerce and trade, so there were wars. <<

Translation: "Said Natives were not always willing to sell their lands & possessions & liberty for a pittance, so Whites initiated wars to enslave or kill Indians & steal their lands & possessions".

>> Those with modern weapons and training defeated those without. <<

Translation: "Those with the greatest numbers (the colonizers spilling out of an overcrowded Europe) and the better supply of guns & ammunition...usually but not always defeated those with less". Training had little to do with the success of Europe's Conquest of the Americas...especially with more Native Americans killed by epidemics introduced by the disease infested and habitually unhygienic European settlers, than were killed in direct warfare.

I believe experts consider the bow and arrow about as effective a weapon as a single-loader musket. Of course, the Spaniards also had armor, cannons, and horses, but none of these are "modern weapons."

See Was Native Defeat Inevitable? (Mexican Version) for an analysis of how the Aztecs could easily have defeated Cortés.

>> Such is the history of war. It cannot be denied and it is not denied. <<

Translation: "History is written by the winners...who strive to put the best face on their actions".

>> Over generations Native Americans have made substantial contributions to the building of America. Medicine, engineering, literature, the arts, and many positive aspects of the human endeavor. For Europeans and new Americans, it was Christopher Columbus who ostensibly discovered these natives who have made these contributions. <<

In America, few "Americans" are aware of the substantial Native American contributions...fewer still pay them proper respect. No, what Americans are really celebrating is the fact that Columbus's actions led to the Conquest...and their current cushy position in...the Americas....

We could've learned about the Natives' contributions without conquering them. We didn't have to conquer China to learn about its contributions to civilization, for instance.

>> In most of the US Columbus is heralded for his discovery of the New World. <<

Falsely so. The "New World" was discovered tens of thousands of years ago by the ancestors of the Native American population. And even from a Eurocentric perspective, Bjarni Herjulfsson "discovered" the New World more than half a millennium BEFORE Columbus was out of diapers. Scant years later, Leif Ericson landed in North America and...along with hundreds of other Norse in the years to come, explored & attempted colonization.

Columbus merely PUBLICIZED & stole credit for what was at best a repeat of earlier "discoveries", and what was at worst a deliberate following in their footsteps (historians still argue over Columbus's familiarity with Norse accounts, and it HAS been documented that Norse accounts of their explorations exist in the Vatican, sent there by contemporary Norse bishops).

"Most of the US" needs to be educated, which is presumably the goal of TCDA.

>> In Denver we have a group of people who counter that idea. They claim to represent all Native Americans. Yet they don't seem to have any Native Americans in their leadership that are willing to show up to discuss their idealism. They don't appear to represent Dr. Yeagley, a Comanche. <<

A highly assimilated Comanche, who in turn cannot speak for "all Native Americans" let alone even for his own tribe...his views are his own, he is NOT an authorized representative of any tribal government.

I doubt the TCDA claims to represent all or any Native Americans. Again, people of all nationalities can protest the Columbus lovers' distortions of history.

>> Dr. Yeagley would like Native Americans to be involved in America in a positive way. To take part in the building of our nation and celebrate in its civic pride. That is why he came to Denver this week. He sought a dialog with the leaders of the American Indians who are dwelling in negativism. <<

No, from what I've read of him, he came seeking publicity for himself & his views.

If he sought a dialog with American Indian leaders, he'd have gone TO those Native American leaders or contacted them for a meeting...not gone to a meeting of White people in unrealistic hopes that Native American "leaders" would show up.

Yeagley doesn't seek a dialog with anyone except the fawning supporters who visit his website.

Activists couldn't find Indians?
>> He came of his own volition. He was not hired to come. But these portrayers of the evil Columbus couldn't find any Native Americans to speak. <<

No doubt because those few Native Americans WITH the wherewithal or opportunity to attend couldn't find within themselves any hope that the glorifiers of Columbus would be willing to pay any head to their words....Can you really fault them for this?

>> The Columbus Day Parade Committee is a group of Coloradoans. They are not all Italian-Americans. For years the committee has asked for and received the participation of all Coloradoans. There are no Italians in my bloodlines that I know of. Russians; Poles; Belgians; and Austrians, and all of them Jewish. <<

Make up your mind...earlier you stated that you were NOT Jewish and NOT Austrian (direct quote: "I am not Italian, Austrian, Catholic, or Jewish").

Me, I'm local...a mix of Native American AND settlers who arrived (& began intermarrying with aborigines) long before the United States came into existence.

>> Last year I was on a float in the Columbus Day Parade and enjoyed the company of other Coloradoans whose ancestors hailed from all points of the globe, including Native Americans. Nowhere in my mind was I thinking about how best to subjugate anyone, least of all Native Americans. <<

But neither were you thinking of the atrocities that HAD been committed in order to create the "haven" that your parents fled Hitler to find. Nor were you thinking of the subjugation that DOES exist, and that the celebration of Columbus's achievements implicitly condones or even glorifies.

Sounds to me like you simply weren't thinking at all....

>> The Columbus Day Parade is a celebration of the diversity that makes America great. <<

How does a "Columbus Day Parade" celebrate diversity? What does Columbus have to do with American diversity...unless you're referring to the fact that under his governorship of the Indies, European invaders started "settling" the already occupied Americas, and brought enslaved Africans with them as involuntary "immigrants"? Or to the trickle of Asians that entered the Americas in the holds of European ships, along established European trade/conquest routes? Or to the millions of other immigrants who were subsequently allowed in BY the White conquerors, with the subjugated Native Americans having no say in the matter?

>> This Saturday I will again be on a float in the Columbus Day parade, and I hope that you will come and join us. It is positive; uplifting to the soul; and just a lot of fun.

Paul Tiger <<

I've a better idea....I'll hope that you'll come to your senses & lobby to REPLACE the Columbus Day celebrations with some less offensive alternative.

Wade Wofford.

Related links
This ain't no party:  a Columbus Day rant
Yeagley the Indian apple

Readers respond
"The claim that the Indians warred against each other is a curious thing to bring up as a defense against charges of atrocities/genocide against them."

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