The Oatmeal recently posted this article http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day , which encourages people to stop celebrating Christopher Columbus and instead celebrate Bartolome de las Casas during Columbus Day. Bartolome was similar to Columbus in the sense that both were white European explorers, who exploited natives for resources and labor, but Bartolome in an act of guilt and true disgust, turned a new leaf and fought for natives' rights and against rampant imperialism. The rationale given by the Oatmeal is pretty simple. Columbus was a jerk and this guy wasn't and he did good things for natives, so why not replace Columbus with him? Well it seems the Oatmeal didn't ask the question "how does this help repair relations with indigenous people?" While it's nice that Bartolome served as an activist for indigenous people's rights and he should definitely receive praise for his actions, replacing Columbus with him only replaces one White European male with another.In this seemingly appropriate re-patronizing, the indigenous person is silenced yet again. The indigenous person is instead given this liaison, who only serves to make Western culture feel good again. The unspoken rationale behind this is "well Columbus was a jerk, but not everyone was a jerk." It leaves the gate open for rationalizing the imperialistic tendencies of Western society as positives, rather than leaving the floor open for critique. What I'm advocating for is not a "I hate Christopher Columbus day", that would be inappropriate as well for the same reason Bartolome day was inappropriate, it ignores indigenous people. Instead using this day to focus on indigenous peoples' (specifically from the Caribbean, which are the ones typically forgotten when one uses the catch all phrase Native Americans) and their culture and how they were unfortunately oppressed is a much better use of time than to continue to think about White European men, an activity we have been forced to do for 12 years of our lives in history class.
See the note at the bottom of that Oatmeal page, http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day#bartolome
ReplyDelete"I know that the discovery of the New World means a lot of different things to a lot of different cultures. I like the sound of Bartolomé Day. If you don't like that, call it Indigenous People's Day. Or perhaps Chris-Columbus-was-a-turd Day. I'd even settle for just calling it MONDAY. But please, oh please do not call it Columbus Day."
The Native Americans will get a holiday as soon as the African Americans get one (which unfortunately will probably be never). For now, though, let's try to get rid of the celebration surrounding Columbus. It's a step in the right direction, at least.
Hello Chris!
DeleteI did see the note at the bottom of the page, but I don't see how it repudiates my critique. I'm a firm believer in doing things right the first time around and I think maintaining the status quo is never a proper course of action. Just calling it Monday was an interesting alternative that I personally think is better than Bartolome day (for the reasons given above). If people keep rationalizing the western hierarchy as being necessary, then true equality will always be limited.