Public Comment

Christopher Columbus was allegedly the first ‘illegal immigrant’ to arrive into the “New World” in 1492.The day evokes a great deal of sadness and anger among Native Americans, who object to honoring a man who opened the door to European colonization, pestilence and the slave trade. Bucking the prevailing holiday, Seattle City Council unanimously adopted a resolution to celebrate the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Socialist City Council member Kshama Sawant stated that "we’re making sure that we acknowledge the absolute horrors of colonization that happened in the Americas at the hands of the European so-called explorers, and Columbus was one of the primary instigators."  

He was a prolific slave owner. The European mission launched a war of terror to plunder and pillage, and was responsible for mass enslavement and a genocide, which reduced the population of the indigenous communities within a few decades from about 150 million to a few thousand. Hollywood bears much of the responsibility for their negative stereotyping of native Indians as wild natives who deserved to be killed by handsome cowboys giving rise to the hideous, deplorable slogan, “the only good Indian is a dead Indian.” It is time to acknowledge the sins of Christopher Columbus, revoke Columbus Day, and construct a holocaust museum as a living testament to our dark history. Finally, let us reach out to a native brothers and sisters whose great culture is rapidly fading.