Tuesday,
October 24, 2006
Cornell U. Indian Activists Rant vs Columbus
FIRST.... We can
never overlook that Columbus is a SYMBOL of Native American Enmity toward
EUROPEANS, though he never set foot on the North American Continent, and he was
a mere EXPLORER, and had little to say, and when he did, the MONARCHS, the
MILITARY, or THE CHURCH put him in Chains.
Yet, they hold
I'm unfamiliar
with these Two Concepts of Criminality ...."In Absentia (So What, That You
Weren't There)" and "Posthumous (Being
Dead When the Crime was Committed is a LAME Excuse)". They
didn't teach them in my Law School.:) :)
We are supposed
to believe that before the arrival of the European explorers Indians heard the
wolf cry to the blue corn moon, asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned, sang
with all the voices of the mountains, and painted with all the colors of the
wind. We are supposed to accept the image of Indian civilization sung by
Disney's Pocahontas.
The rosy
portrayal of pre-Columbian natives by radical Indian activists makes it seem as
if Europeans brought the concept of violence to the
This
characterization, of course, is false. The Incan empire did not arise from hugs
and kisses but from diplomacy and conquest. In fact, it was some of the Inca?s disaffected subject tribes
that provided critical aid for Francisco Pizzaro in
his conquest of
Yes, Europeans
did bad things to Indians and yes, Indians did bad things to each other and to
Europeans as well. But for all of the trials and tribulations the
In short, the
Indian activists who rallied on Ho Plaza should instead be thanking Christopher
Columbus and his European successors for bestowing upon them the fruits of
Western Civilization. Without those dead Europeans there
would be no
Indian
activists shed trail of tears on Ho Plaza.
...On October 12,
Indians from Cornell, the local community, and around the country gathered on
Ho Plaza to protest the celebration of Columbus Day. The event began with
some ritual chanting?perhaps
to keep the rain god away on such an overcast and ominous-looking afternoon.
Unfortunately, the rest of the rally was much less exciting. There was no
tomahawk throwing contest, no make-up-your-own dreamcatcher
game, and no Sugarhill Gang?s ?Apache? playing in the
background. Instead, there was a libel throwing contest, a make-up-your-own
genocide game, and incomprehensible chanting in the background.
The first speaker
was Jason Corwin, a graduate student at Cornell and citizen of the Seneca
Nation. He declared that we cannot celebrate
A later speaker
spoke of the existence of Indian ?political prisoners?
in the
A few more
individuals gave their speeches on Ho Plaza, but most merely reverberated
previous speakers? arguments or added more stories of
the oppression of Indians in the
We are supposed
to believe that before the arrival of the European explorers Indians heard the
wolf cry to the blue corn moon, asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned, sang
with all the voices of the mountains, and painted with all the colors of the
wind. We are supposed to accept the image of Indian civilization sung by Disney?s Pocahontas. Maybe if the
lyrics the lovely Disney princess sang were completely true or if more of the
pre-Columbian Indian inhabitants had been smoking hot like Pocahontas there
would be more sympathy for the Indians? grievances.
The problem is that the truth is not entirely on their side, and not all of
their ancestors conformed to the idealized eating disorder-inducing physique of
Disney?s Pocahontas.
A glimpse at the
reality of the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations can be seen in an August 23,
2006 article from Reuters: ?Boiled bones show Aztecs
butchered, ate invaders.? Skeletons found at an archaeological site near
According to the
article, teeth marks on the bones indicate where human flesh was ripped from
the bone and knife marks show where hearts were cut out of chests. Other
evidence illustrates that pregnant women?s
unborn babies were stabbed in utero as part of the
ritual sacrifice. Any people that would participate in such atrocities are
not civilized?they are
savage.
As a response to
hearing reports of human sacrifice, the piece continues, ?[Hernan] Cortes renamed the town Tecuaque?meaning
?where people were eaten? in the indigenous Nahuatl language?and sent an army
to wipe out its people.? Can anyone really blame Seqor
Cortes? What kind of man would not respond aggressively to accounts that his
countrymen had been cruelly imprisoned, their hearts cut out and their unborn
children murdered?
The rosy
portrayal of pre-Columbian natives by radical Indian activists makes it seem as
if Europeans brought the concept of violence to the
This
characterization, of course, is false. The Incan empire did not arise from hugs
and kisses but from diplomacy and conquest. In fact, it was some of the Inca?s disaffected subject tribes
that provided critical aid for Francisco Pizzaro in
his conquest of
To be sure, there
were atrocities committed against American Indians by Europeans. However, it is
important to understand that both the white man and the red man participated in
violence and cruelty in the
?He has excited domestic
insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our
frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.?
You can?t earn that sort of a
reputation by merely helping colonists grow corn and sharing a friendly
Thanksgiving dinner. And it wasn?t
the Europeans who taught them how to kill.
Regardless of the
caterwauling of radical Indian activists Columbus Day should not be abolished.
Yes, Europeans did bad things to Indians and yes, Indians did bad things to
each other and to Europeans as well. But for all of the trials and tribulations
the
In short, the
Indian activists who rallied on Ho Plaza should instead be thanking Christopher
Columbus and his European successors for bestowing upon them the fruits of
Western Civilization. Without those dead white males there would be no
Eric
Shive is a senior in the
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