Columbus Day

[ntownn8ive]

So how the h*ll our we supposed to recognize Columbus Day?

What's the history behind the nationally-federally recognized day anywayz? I know some one knows the answer.

Is this not another shmack in the face to the indigenous of the Americas? They might as well have a Cortez Slays the Indians Day or Calvary Massacre Day, at least. Not a Sailor Discovers the Americas Not Really Day.

Hey, how many tribes give their employees Columbus Day off?!!

[wyo_rose]

We don't get it off here.

If anyone's interested the Annual Columbus Day Parade and accompanying protest is scheduled again in Denver.

[between2worlds]

So how the h*ll our we supposed to recognize Columbus Day?

What's the history behind the nationally-federally recognized day anywayz? I know some one knows the answer.

Is this not another shmack in the face to the indigenous of the Americas? They might as well have a Cortez Slays the Indians Day or Calvary Massacre Day, at least. Not a Sailor Discovers the Americas Not Really Day.

Hey, how many tribes give their employees Columbus Day off?!!

According to wikipedia "Similar holidays, celebrated as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) in many countries in Latin America, Discovery Day in the Bahamas, Hispanic Day in Spain, and the newly-renamed (as of 2002) Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) in Venezuela, commemorate the same event."

I'm all for renaming it "First Nations' Day of Mourning" myself although I don't mind the Venezuelan designation.

As for it being a recognized holiday, look at the name of the football team associated with DC

[MissFancyChick]

I work at the school district and I get this day off... Ill be celebrating the whole weekend at a powwow in White Swan... Not necessarily celebrating the DAY but celebrating nonetheless... On monday ill be driving home... I hope the traffic isnt bad...

We also get Native American Day... so I'm not complaining... its a paid holiday

[ntownn8ive]

I work at the school district and I get this day off... Ill be celebrating the whole weekend at a powwow in White Swan... Not necessarily celebrating the DAY but celebrating nonetheless... On monday ill be driving home... I hope the traffic isnt bad...

We also get Native American Day... so I'm not complaining... its a paid holiday

You suck, the only Native celebrating Columbus Day!!

[MissFancyChick]

haha whatever... i said im NOT celebrating THE DAY... but i am celebrating... just powwowin... sheesh... NOT COLUMBUS...

go on... read it again

[ntownn8ive]

Dude, you soo totally suck!!


















That's only cuz I have to work Monday!

[MissFancyChick]

whatever... youre trippin...

i know what i am thinking... you just dont 'get it'

[MissFancyChick]

Dude, you soo totally suck!!


That's only cuz I have to work Monday!

haha... oh i gotcha! you should play hookie and powwow with me in Yak-town!!! ill drive!!!

[MissFancyChick]

going to legends!! yee-haw!

[ntownn8ive]

haha... oh i gotcha! you should play hookie and powwow with me in Yak-town!!! ill drive!!!

Shutchur dirty lil' mouth!!!

[CloudN9ne]

im still going to work!!! this guy on the radio russ parr calls columbus day murderous monday!!!

[TKMJ Productions]

1. Columbus day is the day this original country recognizes that we found 3 ships on our side of the world.

2. Colombus Day is the day that is recognized as the first terror attack in North America.

3. Columbus Day is the day we recognize as the start of the American Welfair System.

4. Columbus Day is the day that smallpox was introduced to North America.

5. Columbus Day is the day that started the great buffalo hunts without a hunting license or permission to hunt our land.

6. Columbus Day is the day that government offices and banks get a paid day off while we starve and slave away.

7. Columbus Day is the day we celebrate as the first day our rights were violated.(It's been down hill ever since)

8. Columbus Day is the day that we felt sorry for the white man and gave him a helping hand. Now he feels like we owe him something for our generosity.

9. Columbus Day is the day that started the Great Land Grab of 1492. (guess what! It's still going on)

10. Columbus Day is the day we rename as "Native American Genacide Day"

Want More?????????????

I am not a happy camper!

[injunboy]

columbus day is a celebration of poverty. right up to the point where columbus sailed in we didnt know what poverty was. im guessing when we seen them all rag tag and chushy there was no other way to feel.

so in essence the white people are celebating their own poverty stricken ways. this word they brought us just dont fit any other race, and so in a some strange fashion they feel a need to celebrate this.

okay soo lets give it to them its their thing. we dont understand it but thats okay. at least we dont have nationial divorce day or materialistic day. aye

[TKMJ Productions]

Take a read on this one!!!

Article published Oct 9, 2006
Eastern Connecticut students, teachers look again at Columbus
By DANIEL
AXELROD
Norwich Bulletin
After an hour of hearing fifth-grade teacher Erin Rygielski teach about Christopher Columbus and his crew enslaving Arawak Indians, burning them and lopping off limbs, Shyanne Horner said she was shocked.
"The Indians had their own opinions and Columbus had his; why couldn't he just go back (to Europe)?" said Horner, 10, of Norwich, a student at John B. Stanton Elementary School. "Columbus changed everything."
Across the country, some teachers are shifting away from the notion Columbus discovered America and are teaching about the explorer as a pioneer of imperialism, according to local educators, scholars and American Indians.
But the shift has been slow and sporadic, educators say, since new interpretations of Columbus are mired in controversy between historical evidence and ethnic pride.
"Many Italian people today consider Columbus Day as the antidote to 'The Godfather' and 'The Sopranos,' " said Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor and pop culture expert. "The traditional Columbus story is a natural, easy way to organize history, but history is really one big complicated mess."
These days, some children's teachers say Columbus brutally tortured Indians at what today is the Bahamas Islands and Haiti with a violent, disease-filled gold expedition that wiped out the native populations.
"Columbus was the first Western imperialist and to celebrate that imperialism is to prepare us to celebrate subsequent imperialism," said Howard Zinn, author of "A People's History of the United States," which has sold more than 500,000 copies.
"Society does not want to recognize the crimes of people who, for a long time, have been looked upon as heroes," Zinn added. "To face the truth about ourselves and begin to re-examine Columbus means maybe some of our other heroes should be re-examined."
Schoolchildren through-out the country, meanwhile, have a holiday today for Columbus Day, thanks to a 1934 joint resolution by Congress, marking the second Monday of October to honor Columbus' purported discovery of America in October 1492.
"How do you think it feels to be 'discovered'?" said American Indian Trudie Richmond, director of public programs at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Mashantucket. "How can you discover a place when people are already there?"
At the Stanton School, Rygielski, 24, of Norwich, is among a new wave of educators who use the latest sources, including American Indian accounts of Columbus' visit, in an effort not to sugarcoat the explorer.
"One of my college teachers said (being a teacher) is about just presenting the facts to the kids and letting them form their own opinions," said Rygielski, who was influenced by the book "Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years." "Once kids get older, like by the fifth grade, it's easier to do that."
Frank Demicco is offended by the kind of Columbus lessons taught by teachers such as Rygielski. The 78-year-old Norwich resident is a former trustee of the United Italian Society of Norwich and an organizer of local festivities to honor Columbus annually.
"I hate revisionists that rewrite history, because we have no more facts about Columbus than the facts that have been used for the last 500 years," Demicco said. "Every immigrant family should have pride in their heritage. Italians have done an awful lot of good for the community and brought over a lot of culture and arts, not just pizza and pasta."
But not all teachers address Columbus' purported brutality. Colchester Elementary School teacher Kim Waltmire said many of her colleagues just teach simple songs about Columbus' voyage.
Waltmire said teaching about Columbus "is a very difficult bridge to walk." But as a second grade teacher she doesn't have to delve into the debates surrounding Columbus.
Norwich Free Academy Social Studies Department Chairman Bruce Donahue said high school teaching on Columbus varies widely and depends partly on the age of the teacher.
"Younger teachers teach what they've been taught in college, which is the point of view widely held now that Columbus was the first agent of imperialism," Donahue said.
Sociologist James Loewen, who spent two years examining 12 leading high school textbooks of American history to write "Lies My Teacher Told Me," said accounts of Columbus as a barbaric conqueror are more accurate.
"I think we're still dealing with a white supremacist view when it comes to Native Americans," Loewen said. "The truth about Columbus is not such a pretty picture when you get to the details, which include the complete annihilation of the native population of Haiti within 60 years of his arrival."

What do ya all think?
Ken