I appreciate the eloquent and timely words of David Cook regarding Columbus Day.
I think Columbus Day should be removed by an act of Congress as an official observance simply because it honors the wrong man for the wrong reasons.
Until that happens, I would like to see Columbus Day observed by peaceful demonstrations against the whole history of genocide, the theft of foreign land through conquest and the enslavement of human beings.
I would urge America not to honor Columbus, the slave trader out to make a fortune, but to honor the native peoples that were here for thousands of years before they were discovered by the white race.
It should be a day to recall the words of Crazy Horse, who said, "One does not sell the ground on which the people walk."
Instead of giving false honor to Columbus, it would be a good day to honor our native people, which we, as a nation, made every attempt to exterminate. It would be better to honor these people, who we call the American Indian, than to give false honor to our own thievery of a land that did not belong to us.
The American Indian would not be exterminated, but lived – with the spirit of Crazy Horse still in them – to fight for this land through all our wars. They are our core citizens and deserving of our greatest gratitude for their sacrifices in spite of the harm and hurt we have done them.
This Columbus Day would be a good time to look into the mirror of our arrogance, as Cook so thoughtfully outlined, and realize that we are a part of a family of man on this planet, with unalienable rights to a piece of ground to walk on and enjoy the pleasures of liberty.
It would be a good day to stop and realize that we can never achieve peace through war, regardless of the chest thumping gorillas who scream otherwise.
God bless the earth and all the life on it.
Naman Crowe
Namancrowe@yahoo.com