Word: columbus
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Today, Columbus should by all means have made the list of things deemed politically incorrect. But Columbus floats in limbo between public reverence and public outrage. Children learn that some Indians died when he came to America, but not that, as Spain’s first viceroy in the New World, Columbus was directly responsible for their deaths. And we still honor this man with a holiday in his name...
...short, we just can’t quit him. I believe this has something to do with America’s historical insecurity as a relatively “new” nation lacking the historical muscle of the Old World. We have built up this mythical personage of Columbus as the embodiment of our American values of perseverance and ingenuity. Every country must have its creation myths, of course. Many of them are untrue. But most countries recognize them for what they are: cultural embroidery, not historical fact. For modern Americans to believe that Columbus was a hero...
...attitudes to change, and even more time for history books to be rewritten and educational methods changed. But the vague, ambivalent history lesson children receive today is unacceptable. They should learn more than the names of two of Columbus’s ships. They should learn the truth: that Columbus came to steal and conquer, not to explore and discover. That a place cannot be discovered when people are already living there. That Columbus was responsible for the death of an estimated 8 million Indians in the Caribbean alone. Though we may be ashamed of it, though it may frighten...
...course, it is easier said than done to begin teaching the truth in elementary history classes, especially when so much of it is uncertain or interwoven with fable. There is one thing that can be done in the immediate future, however: We must abolish Columbus Day. Not the national holiday itself; I enjoy the day off as much as anyone else. Rather, we should turn Columbus Day into a holiday that honors all American peoples. In Berkeley, for example, Columbus Day was already replaced with Indigenous Peoples Day in 1992. In parts of Latin America, Columbus Day is celebrated...
...Chief strides into the White House living room. So it seemed auspicious that rolling up to the South Lawn on Monday was the man who might just be President Bush's Last Best Friend on Earth. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrived in Washington just in time for Columbus Day, and just in time to say what almost no other political figure would venture to say out loud right now: "I'm 100% sure and positive that history will say that George W. Bush has been a great, very great President of the United States of America...