Columbus the ‘hero’

In his column “The irony of mobs and those Columbus statues”, (October 10), William Warford states, “Columbus Day remains a federal holiday, though not a state holiday in California. Some cities, such as Los Angeles, recognize the holiday as Indigenous Peoples Day.

“Many Columbus statues have been vandalized and torn down in the last few years.”

Warford treats Columbus like a hero by praising him and claiming, “He certainly connected two lands that were previously unaware of each other.”

Berkeley, CA, was the first city in America to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 1992 as word about Columbus’ brutal behavior became more widely known.

Shannon Speed, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and director of the UCLA American Indian Studies Center said, “We now know a great deal about the history and the way that he and his people behaved when they came to this continent, which included pillaging, raping and generally setting in motion a genocide of the people who were already here. That is not something we want to celebrate.”

According to the website History.com, “Upon arriving in the Bahamas, the explorer and his men forced the native peoples they found there into slavery.

Later, while serving as the governor of Hispaniola, he allegedly imposed barbaric forms of punishment including torture.

“In response to native unrest and revolt, Columbus ordered a brutal crackdown in which many natives were killed. Columbus ordered their dismembered bodies to be paraded through the streets.

“Columbus sent thousands of peaceful Taino Indians from the island of Hispaniola to Spain to be sold. Many died on route.

Those left behind were forced to search for gold in mines and work on plantations. Within 60 years after Columbus landed, only a few hundred of what may have been 250,000 Taino were left on their island.” Art Sirota

Lancaster