Columbus Day from a Native American Perspective – Oct. 12

Many thanks to Nany Kayo for this great information…

Virtual Native Lands will host an observation of the significance of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas from a Native American perspective on Sunday, October 12, 2008, on the beach at Commonwealth.

Columbus arrived in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492 setting off a chain of events that changed the world. The first Columbus Day celebration was held in 1792, in New York City. In 1892. Columbus Day has been celebrated as a federal holiday in the United States on the second Monday of October since 1934, and is also celebrated as a state holiday in all but 17 US states, at taxpayer expense.

For Native Americans, the celebration of Columbus Day is a celebration of a holocaust. People react to this observation in different ways ranging from pride, to defiance, to sadness, or to indifference. Many Native choose to protest the holiday as an insult with varying degrees of irreverent humor or rage. Others feel that the observation of a holocaust is beyond protest. Each person is invited to observe the Columbus Day holiday in their own way at the Commonwealth gathering.

There will be a memorial and celebration of the lives of the Tiano people, who were almost entirely exterminated by Columbus and his crew within a few years of Columbus’ arrival, on the beach. Other meeting facilities on the Commonwealth sims are also available for use for pretty much anything anyone can dream up within legal and prim limits.

Please contact Nany Kayo if you would like to arrange an event.

Written by: Beth J. Bates