Now, some may try and tell me that I really have no basis to criticize this renowned man. Who am I to critique such a daunting task as voyaging across treacherous oceans and facing unknown territory? How could I ever know the lengths that Columbus and his men went to in order to give me the place I call home? Besides, without Columbus, who knows if the USA would even exist today?!
I acknowledge truth in all of those statements. Yes I may not have been born in a free land without Columbus’s discovery, but I also wouldn’t have to live with the guilt of knowing that the founder of my country stole that freedom out of the hands of people who had lived peacefully on this continent long before he was even born.
There is absolutely no justification for a national holiday set aside to celebrate a man who seems to stand against the fundamentals of this country...What part of slavery exemplifies liberty? Which part of kidnapping is parallel to freedom? And moreover, how is teaching only half the truth about Columbus in our schools justified?
I for one have trouble understanding how we as a nation can take pride in any of this. But maybe that’s just me.
