Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!
 

I mourn for those killed, raped, ravaged and a multitude of other things. I think what still goes on in regards to this is the most horrible.

U.S.A. sure likes to think they are saviors of the oppressed. but forget that they are doing just that.

This thread could get quite radical...are we in the red zone?? LOL

But seriously, I find it awful.

-Mr. Moon

It's just like the USA to glorify a murderer and try to candy coat the bullshit that they did. They might as well have Hitler day as far as I'm concerned. I went to an event that some Native people threw in Boston when I lived there. It was called "Who was this Columbus guy anyway." I don't understand how people don't stop and think about all of the horrible things that he was responsible for.

I changed all our work calendars to say Fall Bank Holiday.

I do not celebrate today's federal holiday.

I do not celebrate this day as a holiday - where the fuck did Columbus get off murdering the people who belonged here.

I celebrate the indigenous people of this land.....

Shouldn't we add Andrew Jackson to the hit list?

I get what you're saying but I think the point was that columbus has a holiday after him on a federal level. It's just a big kick in the face to all of the true owners of this land.

Jackson has a $20.00 bill with his face on it that we have to look at every time one is handed to us.

good point. Lol

Well, and it's not Andrew Jackson day...even in Nashville where he is quite loved. :|

I really think so many people in the US believe what they were taught in school, and have no idea that Columbus did not share Thanksgiving on the Pinta with Pocahantas. No clue. Even what they were taught in US History or Social Studies, they remember nothing and really don't care.

However,

In so many cases when people learn what actually happened, so many of them are horrified and get why it should not be a Federal Holiday.

We did not celebrate Calumbus day in Argentina. We celebrated Dia de la Raza which was a celebration of diversity.

Except for those people who just will not dare open their minds.

Me either- can't do it and I think it is impotant to ask kids in our families what they are taught about Columbus in school. Then re-educate them. Also, contact their school district. If there has to be some kind of "hero" designated about the "discovery" (which it already had been by natives) of the Americas, we need to have a red person designated. I know, I know, it's all about the European "discovery." The whole concept of discovery needs to thrown out.

A day late...
 

No they didn't give him a day they put him on our currency for all to see. I really do not see the difference over all, both are being celebrated which is not cool with me.

What is a must? My bank was open on Columbus Day, our schools were open on Columbus day. I still can't get a $20.00 bill without Jackson's face on it. I didn't celebrate and I make a choice not to carry $20.00 bills.

If you are this upset about Columbus Day being a recognized federal holiday start a petition, I'll be glad to sign it.

Not a problem Corkey!

Here you go!

http://newsfornatives.com/blog/national-native-holiday/

Letter to my Senator,

Dear Senator Inhofe,

I am writing to ask why we celebrate "Columbus Day" as a Federal Holiday?

There is overwhelming information that provides us a history of violence against the "Native Americans".

I ask you as my representative to please look into this and let me know why my tax dollars are used to provide you and all other Federal employees a payed day off.

Thank You,

I give up!

It's very apparent that you don't like me or what I bring to this conversation. So I am going to stop away. Good luck!

It does not seem like its personal Okie.

The link you posted while asking for the holiday to be changed, does use a lot of racist language. If you would like examples PM me and I can send you some later.

There was a time in my life when I was not aware that many of the terms in that article are racist. Maybe read some of the racism threads on this website and watch some Tim Wise on YouTube and start learning what is acceptable. :)

It is a learning process. :)

A People's History by Howard Zinn
 

One passage from Zinn's great work available online at

http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html

"In the villages of the Iroquois, land was owned in common and worked in common. Hunting was done together, and the catch was divided among the members of the village. Houses were considered common property and were shared by several families. The concept of private ownership of land and homes was foreign to the Iroquois. A French Jesuit priest who encountered them in the 1650s wrote: 'No poorhouses are needed among them, because they are neither mendicants nor paupers.. . . Their kindness, humanity and courtesy not only makes them liberal with what they have, but causes them to possess hardly anything except in common.

Women were important and respected in Iroquois society. Families were matrilineal. That is, the family line went down through the female members, whose husbands joined the family, while sons who married then joined their wives' families. Each extended family lived in a 'long house.' When a woman wanted a divorce, she set her husband's things outside the door."

I know women that sets (throws) her husbands things outside the door now but they don't get to have a divorce. Thanks for the info!

This is wonderful! I can't wait to read it.

You know what I've been going through this this year, and you know I am laughing out loud now :-) Yes, the Iroquis understood that a physical gesture was called for in certain times. Hard to mistake the message of all your stuff sitting outside the door!