I miss the good old days of elementary school when the most stressful part of my day was accidentally coloring outside the lines and getting one worksheet of homework. Enjoy it while you can elementary schoolers, because high school is closer than it may seem. Anyways, I did not come here to reminisce about elementary school, although that would be way more light-hearted than what I am about to talk about: Christopher Columbus. Now I'm sure all you elementary schoolers out there must be getting excited when I mention his name. I'm sure you think I am going to talk about how he was a hero who was the first person to discover America. Well, take a deep breath because I am about to drop a major truth bomb. I can no longer let you kids look up to such a rotten man. It's about time you guys found out the truth.
So, here's the thing, Columbus was not such a good guy. I know this may be hard to believe but just here me out. First of all, he was actually not the first person to discover America (mind-blowing, right?). The Native Americans were just minding their own business on America before Columbus decided to come make life worse for them. That's right, not only did he not discover America, but he also mistreated the people who were already there. Instead of going back home since the land was already inhabited, or trying to peacefully coexist with the Native Americans, Columbus thought it was a great idea to just ruin their lives. He enslaved many Native Americans and "He also took slaves for display back home and to work in his conquered lands" (Perry, CNN). That's not all folks. He also brought many foreign diseases to America that the Native Americans were not used to, which caused many of them to die.
So, yeah, I think it's safe to say that Christopher Columbus was not such a good guy. I don't think this guy deserves his own holiday either considering all the bad things he's done. The fact that he wasn't even the first person to discover America is what really bothers me about him having a holiday. What kind of lesson is this teaching kids? That it's okay to take credit for something that you didn't do? And not only can you take credit for something you didn't do, but you also get celebrated for it? I don't think those are good lessons to be teaching kids and that is exactly what we are doing by celebrating Columbus Day. I think that instead we should be celebrating Native Americans because they were the people who actually discovered America, and they deserve to be recognized due to the hardships they were forced to face. Well, that's all I have for today. I hope this didn't traumatize you too much elementary schoolers.
Sincerely,
Ranjana Angamuthu
