In the early years of our nation's history, Christopher Columbus was raised to hero status by writers and historians for allegedly founding the Americas. These documents and recollections made a significant impact and Columbus was given a national holiday that has been celebrated annually since 1971. However, Columbus Day is a holiday unrightfully given to a man who is undeserving of this admiration. Christopher Columbus is responsible for leading the killings of countless Native Americans and claiming title to land that was not rightfully his. Columbus Day should be abolished on accounts of Columbus' blatant disrespect for and mass murders of American Indians, illegitimate land claims, and the fact that Columbus does not equate to those deserving of national holidays.
Christopher Columbus had no concern for the rights of American Indians and enslaved and killed them. Columbus captured the Indians to sell them as a profit in Spain and made them his personal slaves.
Columbus
English: Columbus_1892_Issue-$5.jpg Christopher co...
Christoper Columbus arrives in AmericaColumbus would go as far as riding on their backs for transportation. This was an accepted trait of the new society that Columbus and his followers created. Another accepted concept was that it was nothing out of the ordinary to slaughter the Indians for little or no apparent reason. From almost the moment Columbus landed in the New World, he and his men committed horrendous acts against the Native Americans. In A Short Account Of The Destruction Of the Indies, by Bartolome de Las Casas, the slaughters are graphically described:
[The Spaniards] forced their way into native settlements, slaughtering everyone they found there, including small children, old men, pregnant women, and even women who had just given birth. They hacked them to pieces, slicing open their bellies with their swords... They even laid wagers on whether they could manage to slice a man in two...