3:03 p.m.
Today we celebrate the arrival of Christopher Columbus to America. Old CC was trying to find a new route to India, but he found a new land instead. AMERICA. After "discovering" America, all the Europeans started bringing their crap over here and taking over. Eventually, the entire Western Hemisphere was dominated by people of European descent, leading to profound changes to its landscape, population, and plant and animal life. The post-1492 era is known as the period of the Columbian Exchange. This is where Juan Valdez would take his coffee to trade for other goods, like Nikes and mp3 players.
While many Americans celebrate this holiday by staying home from work and going to buy a bunch of crap at Sears, there are others who strongly opposed Columbus day. "Why would anyone oppose having a day off," you ask? Uh, maybe because Columbus directly brought about the demise of many Taino (Arawak) Indians on the island of Hispaniola, and the arrival of the Europeans indirectly slew many indigenous peoples by bringing diseases previously unknown in the New World. Or perhaps because an estimated 85% of the Native American population was wiped out within 150 years of Columbus's arrival in America, due largely to diseases such as smallpox, which were both accidentally and deliberately spread among Native American populations. Or it could be because war and the seizing of land and material wealth by European colonists contributed to the decline of the indigenous populations in America. I don't know. Just a guess.
In 1990, 350 Native Americans, representatives from all over the hemisphere, met in Quito, Ecuador, at the first intercontinental gathering of indigenous people in the Americas, to mobilize against the quincentennial celebration of Columbus Day. The following summer, in Davis, California, over a hundred Native Americans gathered for a follow-up meeting to the Quito conference. They declared October 12th, 1992, International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.
I'm saying screw celebrating Columbus Day. I'm with the Natives on this one. Tonight I'm going to party like it's International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.
Source: Wikipedia
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