History was never my favorite subject in school, there were too many names and dates that I had to remember for each exam and quiz. So when I realized that I had to take history classes in college I was beside myself. After my first lecture I realized that I had been lied to throughout my schooling thus far, I was astonished that the school system could have done this and gotten away with it. For me though the hardest lie to swallow was the story of our 'beloved' Christopher Columbus and how he 'discovered' America. I was not completely ignorant to the fact that someone come across the ocean to 'discover' this new world before Mr. Columbus (or the natives who had been calling this home for 14,000 years prior), like Leif Ericson a Viking who founded a Norse village around 500 years before Columbus. [1]
So instead of divulging horrible truths about what Columbus put these peace loving natives through, I want to dig into the back story of the Spanish conquests or as the Spanish called it the encomienda system that was used to colonize this new world. (ie. Mexico and Central America)
To make a long story short, this system allowed conquistadors to 'teach' the indigenous (Lucayans) people Catholicism and in trade they could 'extract payment' in the form of labor, gold, crops, and livestock. [2] Everything was totally legal in the eyes of the Spanish government, which brings me to Bartholomé de las Casas. As one of Columbus' right hand men, de las Casas experienced this tragedy first hand. Writing in his journals about how natives were getting their hands cut off then making them wear it around their neck, cutting legs off children who tried to run, and even feeding native babies to their dogs when they ran out of food. [1]
"My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature that now I tremble as I write." [1]
Yes, de las Casas started off like all of the other Conquistadors. But after seeing everything that was transpiring in front of him, he decided to sell his land, set his native slaves free, and become a priest. His main goal now became to fight for the rights of the Lucayans while teaching Christianity and peace. [3] Several years later the Spaniards set into place the New Laws of 1542, which banned enslavement of indigenous people and ended the encomenda system, King Charles V even had de las Casas come and speak about the horrible things that he had witnessed. Finally, there was progress being made, but this was to little to late in the eyes of the Lucayans by this time there was only a hand full of them left. Yes, Columbus and his men ended up murdering almost 3 million people in 50 years! [2]
Here is my stand! I say that we nix Columbus day and instead we honor Bartolome de las Casas, he was a peaceful man who only wanted to find peace and preach his beliefs to the Lucayans, not mass murder their people and steal all of their gold.
[1] Kasum, Eric. Huffington Post, "Columbus Day? True Legacy: Cruelty and Slavery." Last modified October 11, 2010. Accessed January 29, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-kasum/columbus-day-a-bad-idea_b_742708.html.
[2] PBS, "When Worlds Collide." Accessed January 29, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/kcet/when-worlds-collide/people/bartolome-de-las-casas.html.
[3] Inman, Matthew. The Oatmeal, "Christopher Columbus was awful (but this guy was not)." Accessed January 29, 2014. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day.
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