Columbus Day Holiday Arrives on Stormy Historical Waters

7/28/2019 Columbus Day Holiday Arrives on Stormy Historical Waters

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Columbus Day holiday arrives on stormy historicalwaters

Historian Loewen says Columbus, top,was a "racist killer," who allowed hisdogs to eat Indians

October 9, 2000Web posted at: 10:05 p.m. EDT (0205GMT)

In this story:

New World's first slave trader

Teaching complex history to fifth-graders

'Cultural Marxism'

RELATED STORIES, SITES

WATERTOWN, Massachusetts

(CNN) -- According to the classroom

rhyme, Christopher Columbus sailed

the ocean blue in 1492 and discovered

America. But these days, the oldmariner is sailing into controversy ...

even as a federal holiday bearing his

name is celebrated the second

Monday of every October.

The Italian explorer who flew the

banner of Spanish monarchs is

accused of brutalizing the indigenous
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people of the Americas.

In Denver, Colorado, last weekend,

Italian-Americans holding a

Columbus Day parade faced protestsfrom Native Americans and Hispanic

activists. Scores of demonstrators

were arrested, including American

Indian Movement activist Russell

Means.

VIDEO

CNN's Bill Delaneyreports on thecontroversial efforts todepict the explorer asslave-trader and marauder

Play video(QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Some educators are also

disturbed about how the story

of Columbus is being taught

in the classroom.

Former history professor

James Loewen wrote a book

titled, "The Lies My Teacher

Told Me," in which hemaintains that virtually all

textbooks and teachers still

place too much emphasis on

the heroics of Columbus

without mentioning his

misdeeds.

Loewen calls Columbus a

racist killer, saying he

enslaved Indians, handed

them over to his men for sex

and set in motion theirannihilation.

"They would even take

Indians from place to place

with them -- as dog food -- as

a kind of mobile dog food,"

said Loewen. "When they got
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to where they were going for

the night, [they would] allow

the dogs to tear one of themapart and eat them." That

story came from thecontemporary account of a

priest, Bartolemy de Las

Casas, who knew Columbus.

New World's firstslave trader

Columbus' own diaries also

extensively document his

four voyages to the new land

to gain riches for his patrons,

Spanish monarchs Isabellaand Ferdinand.

Columbus also brought with

him diseases, against which

the native people had no

defense.

"As a result of Columbus

coming to Haiti, we find that

by 1555 -- which is about 60

years after he got there --

Haiti does not have any

Indians left, except a few

mixed people, partly Indian,

partly Spanish," said Loewen.

"It had had a populationprobably of about 3 million.

That's complete genocide."

Columbus was the New

World's first slave trader,

sending thousands of Arawak

Indians to Spain. The African

slave trade would largely

originate to replace cheapIndian labor which was dying

off from the Spanish sword

and European diseases, some

historians say.

Teaching complex


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history to fifth-graders

In Watertown, teacherMary

Callahan struggles to teachher fifth-grade class about the

complexities of Columbus.

While her students learn that

he did land in the Bahamas,

they also learn that Indian

necklaces mattered more to

the explorer than did the

Indians themselves.

"He says, 'I can get the gold

that they have.' He wants to

be rich. Columbus wants to

be a superstar," Callahan says

in explaining Columbus'

motives to her class. Some

educators say children could

handle more facts about the

actions of the early explorers.

Columbus' coat of arms was givenby the Spanish sovereigns as areward for his successful voyageof discovery

"It has to be done carefully.You don't want to crowd into

their minds horrible pictures of

violence and blood -- we don't
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want to do what the movies and

television do to them all the

time," said Howard Zinn,

historian and author of "A

People's History of the UnitedStates, 1492-Present."

"And yet at the same time, we

must not hide the truth from

them. Because if you begin

hiding the truth from them at

that early age -- then it goes on

and on," he said.

Some Columbus critics say to

sugar-coat his deeds is to be less

vigilant about evil, and thatignoring the truth of the past is

a good way to repeat it.

'Cultural Marxism'

However, Reform Party

presidential candidate Pat

Buchanan accused the

Columbus Day parade

protesters in Denver of "culturalMarxism."

"I think what is going on here is

an intolerant, militant left-wing

group is attempting to deny

Italian-Americans their right to

march under a banner of their

hero, who is also a hero of

Western civilization," Buchanansaid in an interview Monday.

"It's all part of a political

correctness, which is anothername for cultural Marxism. It isanti-European and anti-Western

civilization," Buchanan said.

"We have a right to our heroes,

and they to theirs."

Boston Bureau ChiefBill Delaneyand TheAssociated Press
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/10/09/christopher.columbus/link.zinn.columbus.jpghttp://archives.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/delaney.bill.htmlhttp://archives.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/delaney.bill.htmlhttp://archives.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#APhttp://archives.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#APhttp://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/10/09/christopher.columbus/link.zinn.columbus.jpghttp://archives.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/delaney.bill.htmlhttp://archives.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#AP


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contributed to this report.

RELATED STORIES:

Columbus Daybrings parades,leisure time andcontroversyOctober 14, 1996

RELATED SITES:

ChristoperColumbus -- Manand MythLas Casas,Bartolom de, an

EncartaEncyclopediaArticle Titled "LasCasas, Bartolomde"Introduction to LiesMy Teacher ToldMeNational Italian

American Clubsand Organizations

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External sites are notendorsed by CNNInteractive.
http://archives.cnn.com/US/9610/14/briefs.am/columbus.htmlhttp://archives.cnn.com/US/9610/14/briefs.am/columbus.htmlhttp://archives.cnn.com/US/9610/14/briefs.am/columbus.htmlhttp://archives.cnn.com/US/9610/14/briefs.am/columbus.htmlhttp://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.htmlhttp://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.htmlhttp://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.htmlhttp://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/intro.htmlhttp://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/intro.htmlhttp://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/intro.htmlhttp://www.italianclubs.com/national.htmhttp://www.italianclubs.com/national.htmhttp://www.italianclubs.com/national.htmhttp://archives.cnn.com/US/9610/14/briefs.am/columbus.htmlhttp://archives.cnn.com/US/9610/14/briefs.am/columbus.htmlhttp://archives.cnn.com/US/9610/14/briefs.am/columbus.htmlhttp://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.htmlhttp://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.htmlhttp://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.htmlhttp://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=03CFC000http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/intro.htmlhttp://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/intro.htmlhttp://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/intro.htmlhttp://www.italianclubs.com/national.htmhttp://www.italianclubs.com/national.htmhttp://www.italianclubs.com/national.htm

Columbus Day Holiday Arrives on Stormy Historical Waters

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