Columbus day thoughts:
1. He did discover America, as did did the wanderers of the Bering land-bridge, some wayward vikings and possibly some Polynesians. Stuff can be discovered multiple times. He was the last one to discover it though, because he came back and told everybody about it. He also committed genocide, mass rape and pillage, but he's hardly unique in history for that.
2. For everyone that is not of indigenous, or viking, roots, can we get away with not celebrating Columbus, or at least what he made possible? I'm really glad I live in North America. There's no way around that. Someone from the old world would have happened upon the Americas eventually, but Columbus actually did it. It probably would have gone down more or less the same regardless of who it was. It was as a result of the old world finding and conquering the new that I, you, Barack Obama, Dilma Rousseff, José Mujica, Beyoncé, and Louis C K are all here. I can't say I wish it didn't happen.
The first point doesn't require any further development apart from a reference to the dictionary:
dis·cov·er
verb \dis-ˈkə-vər\
: to see, find, or become aware of (something) for the first time
: to show the presence of (something hidden or difficult to see) : to make (something) known
: to learn or find out (something surprising or unexpected)
of which the second two definitions clearly apply.
The second "thought" is quite a bit more controversial, and prompted some spirited facebook debate. I appreciate my friend's comments for helping me to better realize what it was I found unseemly about the popular dismissal of Columbus.
My initial reaction was to say that although arguably lead a genocide, mass rape, and societal collapse in the carribean, that this is not really that out of character for the time. It has always bothered me that people tend to treat pre-modern historical figures with modern morals. I not comfortable saying morality is completely relative, but it cannot be denied that our understanding of morality has developed and changed substantially over the centuries. 15th century Spain was about as far as you could get from a peaceful, cosmopolitan, democratic society. We should remember jews and muslims had just been expelled from Spain, the Inquisition was in full force, and that much of the flowering of the rennasaince had hed to begin (Cervantes and Galileo had not yet been born, Leonardo hadn't painted the Monalisa, Michelangelo was 17 years old in 1492). Columbus was a man from a brutal time and place.
My mistake however was to use all that to dismiss Columbus' crimes. Murder, rape, certainly genocide, cannot be explained away. It is repugnant across all cultures in all times.
I then made the argument that:I want to celebrate that the United States exists, that Brazil exists, that Mexico exists, that Paraguay exists, and all the people that live and have lived in these countries, that would not have existed without the columbian exchange.
to which my friend Leah replied:
I think it's okay to love the USA and people and places and think of it more like... This all happened in spite of all the past and present tragedies and injustices. There are lots of random things that effected each one of us coming into the world and we can never know how things would have gone otherwise. My sister for example drastically changed life plans because she was packing the car to move to NYC on September 11th. She changed her mind that day and switched plans choosing to move to a small coastal town and work at a book store. She met a great guy there.. fell in love and now ten years later is still happily married w two kids. Yes, the attacks on the twin towers effected her decision, but she doesn't have to be grateful that they happened in order to be grateful for her family... I think it's okay to accept that these sorts of contradictions. We can be grateful for the good things in our lives without being grateful for cristobal colon. The world would be a different place if he were never born but I can't say I'm glad for his actions
Which makes an excellent point. However, 9/11 in itself has nothing to do with Leah's sister's marriage. It was merely the accidental cause. Columbus has a great deal to do with the USA, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay and every other state in the Americas. These countries were founded by the descendants of European colonists. Indigenous populations were oppressed in every one. Their modern cultures are based on a European context and indigenous cultures merely supplement the dominant culture. Every citizen that is not part of a culturally intact indigenous nation in the Americas is essentially living in the model that Columbus laid down, of foreign domination and suppression of indigenous peoples.
Even those who are not of, or of only partial, European ancestry are living Columbus' legacy. Their speech, forms of dress, systems of government and even much of thier art are based on the forms brought over by early European conquerors and colonists. To say that they have been further developed, modified, hybridized, and in some cases supplanted is certainly true, but I challenge anyone to point out a single state in North or South America that is more indigenous American, African or Asian than it is European.
So what actually bothers me about the way people condemn Columbus inhuman actions is that they do so without self-awareness. It's hipocritical to condemn Columbus when your entire life, when your very act of being follows in the model he established and is essentially a endorsement of what he began.
YOU ARE Columbus. I am Columbus. Deny it if you like. But it's true.
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