Columbus: Buff And Ready For Genocide
By Mickey Z.
30 September, 2014
World News Trust
Photo credit: Mickey Z.
“Indian Removal, as it has been politely called, cleaned the land for white occupancy between the Appalachians and the Mississippi, cleared it for cotton in the South and grain in the North, for expansion, immigration, canals, railroads, new cities, and the building of a huge continental empire clear across to the Pacific Ocean.” - Howard Zinn
According to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, the estimated pre-1492 population of what is now called the United States ranges from 5 million to 15 million. By the late 1800s, the number of indigenous people was down to 25,000. Such a holocaust is only possible if the long traditional of dehumanization is utilized as a shield of denial.
"There is a profound historical legacy in the United States, going back to people like George Washington, for example, describing Indians as ‘wild beasts of the forest’ and ‘savage as the wolf,’” explains Ward Churchill.
Broken treaties (more than 400 signed and every single one broken), innumerable massacres (from the deliberate genocide of Powhatans to the slaughter at Wounded Knee), forced marches (i.e. the Trail of Tears relocating the Cherokee Nation from Georgia to Oklahoma), and federally sanctioned dehumanization… the treatment of Native Americans reads like a hideous catalogue of crime.
Speaking of hideous crimes, a man by the name of Adolf Hitler took notice of how America’s indigenous people were nearly exterminated in the Home of the Brave™.
Ward Churchill explains how der Führer “ used the treatment of the native people … the policies and processes that were imposed upon them, as a model for what he articulated as being … the politics of living space.”
In essence, says Churchill, Hitler took the notion of “a drive from east to west, clearing the land as the invading population went and resettling it with Anglo-Saxon stock … as the model by which he drove from west to east into Russia -- displacing, relocating, dramatically shifting or liquidating a population to clear the land and replace it with what he called superior breeding stock … He was very conscious of the fact that he was basing his policies in the prior experiences of the Anglo-American population.”
To get a good idea of how and when this got started, as we approach yet another Columbus Day, let’s contemplate how -- upon encountering the Arawak people in 1492 -- the venerated Mr. Columbus noted that they “would make fine servants,” adding, “with 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
For that, he gets a day in his honor… and a square triangle.
Below the elevated platform at the Astoria Boulevard N/Q train station, my neighborhood plays host to Columbus Square -- which is actually shaped like a warped triangle. Let Manhattan have its rather simplistic circle… we in Queens are far more geometrically sophisticated. It’s a square triangle for us.
Naturally, a statue of Christopher Columbus adorns this triangular square. If one were to believe this sculptor’s rendition, Chris spent plenty of time in the Santa Maria Tennis and Fitness Club. This statue is pumped. He’s got biceps to die for and a set of pecs that are literally bursting out of his manly shirt.
Yep, Columbus is buff and ready for genocide.
An engraved plate on the ground under the aforementioned statue reads: “But not for Columbus, there would be no America.” As I stomp on those intolerable words with my dirt-infested sneakers, I envision that first conversation:
COLUMBUS: Red man, we want your land and everything on it.
ARAWAK: But, muscular paleface, what could you possibly offer in return for all these wonders?
COLUMBUS: Venereal disease, small pox, the destruction of your culture, genocide, Christianity, and a really bad image in John Wayne flicks.
The Arawak starts backing away slowly before taking off in a full sprint.
COLUMBUS: (yells after him) But I promise we’ll toss in some casinos in about 500 years! (Arawak keeps running) How’s about I get DiCaprio to walk with you at a big parade one day?
With that conversation in mind, I ascend the stairs to the train -- muttering to myself: "Oct. 13 is Indigenous People’s Day, Oct. 13 is Indigenous People’s Day..."
Mickey Z. is the author of 12 books, most recently Occupy this Book: Mickey Z. on Activism. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on the Web here. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here.
©WorldNewsTrust.com
Comments are moderated