End this symbol of racism and genocide,
known as Columbus Day.
What began over 500 years ago with Columbus genocide of indigenous peoples, exploitation of their land and resources, destruction of the natural environment, all in the name of profit continues today, and has reached its logical culmination in the current "free trade" regime represented by the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF, NAFTA and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
History is very clear that English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Dutch expeditions into the Amerikkks were designed to 1)rob the continent of its natural riches, 2)exploit the indigenous peoples and 3)promote their national self-interests. From the early beginnings of these expeditions to the present time, the indigenous people have been exploited, murdered and treated as less than human beings.
The United Snakes Government has created treaties with the Indian Nations that have been broken numerous times and has done an incompetent and neglectful job in discharging its responsibilities to assist the indigenous peoples.
Add to the the so-called white "founding fathers" considered people of color less than a white person in the development of the United Snakes!
Another one of euro-man's
hell-a-days is based on racism, genoicide and slavery
What began with Columbus--genocide, slavery, racism, destruction of the natural environment--has reached its culmination in a corporate-dominated "globalization" that impoverishes the majority of the world's population and despoils the environment in the name of profit. The "celebration" of Columbus perpetuates this insane, unsustainable regime.
The legacy of Columbus lives on in the blatant discrimination against people of color in our criminal justice system, and in the use of state power to repress dissent.
Columbus voyage not only enabled others to commit genocide in the Amerikkks, but it was Columbus himself who started genocide and enslavement of the autochthonous population and the exploitation of the continents' resources for the enrichment of Europe, and it took him little more than two decades to almost completely depopulate the island on which he landed. Columbus was but the first so-called discoverer who started the transport of enormous wealth back to Europe, to take up the practice of christianising the indigenous population by force, and to suppress indigenous cultures in oceans of blood.
There has been no figure in ancient or modern her-history whom has committed greater atrocities than has Columbus. No one in her-history has exceeded, or even matched, the murder, torture, dismemberment, rape, enslavement and theft of lands as Columbus personally initiated in the Amerikkkas and that succeeding generations have continued...
A festive day and parades commemorating Columbus means the celebration of theft, genocide, slavery, and exploitation; it expresses a grave disrespect for the Indian Nations and justifies the conquerors' treatment of the original population.
As the man most responsible for ushering in an era of racism and genocide in the western hemisphere, Christopher Columbus is not worthy of the worship he receives. Furthermore, the celebration of Christopher Columbus is central to the continuing attitudes and actions of racism and cultural bigotry and violence in the United Snakes and around the world.
This is something no one should want to celebrate.
Columbus was no hero. He should be despised yet the white man has taught us to honor him.
Columbus' voyages set the precedent for the transatlantic slave trade for the next 400 years. On his first voyage, Columbus kidnapped 25 Arawak Indians in Haiti and took them back to Spain as slaves. On his second voyage, Columbus came armed with 17 ships, over 1,200 soldiers, cannons, crossbows, guns, cavalry and attack dogs. He easily overpowered the Arawaks and then enslaved them with vicious punishments for even minor offenses by cutting off their ears and noses.
When the Indians rebelled, Columbus started a war against them, killing thousands. He rounded up 2,500 Arawaks, selected 500 of their best specimens to take back to Spain as slaves. Another 500 were chosen to serve as slaves to the soldiers who remained in Haiti. He extorted gold from the Arawaks by a system of tribute. They had to bring him gold every three months or suffer punishment. When the tribute system broke down, he installed forced labor. Thousands of Arawaks committed suicide. Others were shipped as slaves to the Caribbean and Europe. Within 60 years after Columbus' arrival, the Arawaks were all dead, victims of Columbus' genocide.
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Native American Womens Empowerment Circle
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WHEREAS The man known to us as Christopher Columbus began the invasion of the continents, now known as North and South America, with the intent to pillage and forcefully conquer and convert otherwise spiritual and prosperous human beings, in order to increase his personal wealth and status, and
WHEREAS Christopher Columbus did not "discover America". He was lost, and
WHEREAS Christopher Columbus is responsible for the conscious, purposeful and complete annihilation of the Taino people by torture, rape, murder and diseases such as syphilis and small pox, which were unknown to these continents before his arrival, and
WHEREAS Christopher Columbus was the initiator of trans-Atlantic American Indian and African slave trade on the these continents which led to a cast system based on race and which continues today in the form of continuing racism, bigotry and the denial of rights and opportunities to people of African descent and to American Indian people, and
WHEREAS The actions condoned and committed by Christopher Columbus led to an accepted and systematic genocide of indigenous people which continues to present day and is manifest in the laws, acts and manner of governments and other local, national and global leaders toward the indigenous people of these continents, and
WHEREAS It has recently come to pass that governments and individuals alike have seen fit to acknowledge genocidal-type actions initiated on this
continent by Columbus, such as internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, by reparations to surviving descendants, and
WHEREAS The Italian and Italian-American communities have suffered many atrocities due to their heritage and have many true heroes and role models worthy of respect, and good cause to share the fullness of the Italian culture without glorifying Columbus, and
WHEREAS Columbus Day was first celebrated and sanctioned by the government in Colorado in 1907 and became a national holiday in 1971 and, for all the reasons stated above, should be discontinued in Colorado and the nation.
BE IT RESOLVED that NAWEC does not support Columbus Day as a state or national holiday and does not support the use of the name Columbus in any celebration of culture, language
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