You'll read and hear a lot of things like this: Christopher Columbus was a genocidal rapist and slave trader, the godfather of the American Holocaust. It's true. That's why we should keep Columbus Day.
Columbus Day is a warning for present and future America. There are new explorers. Like Columbus, they have access to the world's deepest pockets. Like Columbus, they seek unguarded access to our country's resources and labor force. Like Columbus, they will force your children into sexual slavery and feed you to their dogs if they can get away with it.
They're not from somewhere else this time. This scary phone call is coming from inside your house. They cripple our schools and blame the teachers. They imprison petty criminals while sacking the nation's economy. They cry out for tough immigration laws so they can intimidate their illegal workforce.
They pit our government against itself and us against our government. They are not on a side. They use whoever is foolish enough to help them. Like Columbus, they claim religion to gain support. Like Columbus, they don't believe in God. They believe they are God.
No one can destroy America from the outside. We have the largest economy on the planet. The strongest military. The most energy. The only thing that's wrong with America is we're never satisfied.
The new Columbus exploits this weak spot to destroy America from the inside, the way it was destroyed five hundred years ago -- with greed. We believe we deserve all we have, and the more we have, the more we believe we deserve. These serpents simply whisper what we already believe into our ears, "Take it. You worked hard for it. You shouldn't have to share. God is on your side."
This Columbus Day, let's take a day to understand that people really do exist who will lie, intimidate, and hack millions of us to pieces to get what they want. Public land. Oil. Ownership of the food supply. They are not fictional. They are in fact already well known. They and their benefactors will rewrite history to cover their crimes. The only thing we can know for sure about history is that we repeat it, especially when we don't learn from it.
It's Columbus Day. Stand together America. Never forget.
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I wrote this two years ago. "Indigenous Peoples Day" is a more positive spin and I welcome it. The indigenous people of America overwhelmingly do not want to be known through a sad and terrible story of how they were nearly destroyed, but for how they have survived and who they are today.
"We are the unconquered aboriginal peoples of this land our mother; The creator has given us our mother, to enjoy, to manage and to protect; We the first inhabitants, have lived with our mother from time immemorial; Our Okanagan Governments have allowed us to share equally in the resources of our mother; We have never given up our rights to our mother, our mother's resources, our governments, our religion; We will survive and continue to govern our mother and her resources for the good of all for all time." - Okanagan Nation Declaration