There are many things I don't understand about American culture. Like how it makes sense not to allow gay people to participate in marriage yet still demonize them as anti-family. Or how we can roll back 30 years of affirmative action for under-represented communities, yet we continue to disregard the very affirmative actions that we have for the privileged of society. What all of this does makes me understand that America specializes in the art of denial. There is a tendency for us to make up myths and believe them when it comes to subjects we'd rather ignore like racism, sexism, homophobia, classism... and so on.
Nothing solidifies this idea for me more than the myth of Columbus and the Columbus Day (or "American Genocide Day", as I've found more accurately describes it). Before I'm dismissed as an America-hating commie, I'll be the first to admit that I don't consider this the worst nation around. I've even toyed with the idea that it is close to the best. As a white person, of course, it is easy for me to feel that way. After learning the true history of the United States and going abroad on several occasions, it seems to me that what distinguishes this country from others with human rights abuses is that we hide it better.
Naturally I do not condone nor compare the atrocities of Burma, Rwanda or Chiapas to the problems here. Those are easily identifiable instances of oppression. But many Americans firmly believe that we are a free, just, and democratic society with only a few glitches. As educated individuals here at Tufts we should be able to see past these thinly veiled myths that we are expected to blindly believe. For example, let's look at what exactly we celebrate on American Genocide Day.... I mean Columbus Day.
About 500 years ago, Chris came over (by mistake) to what would be later called the Americas. Did he discover anything? Well, if we conveniently forget about the millions upon millions of Native Americans already living here and the possibility of previous Europeans visiting the Americas, then yes he did. On his first visit, our fearless "discoverer" met the Arawak people who greeted him in peace. He returned the favor by enslaving hundreds of them and sent them to Spain, many of whom died en route.
As if that wasn't enough to turn you off from a celebration, the next five centuries included a long list of intentional and unintentional European-imported atrocities. Am I dwelling in the past by opposing the celebration of this man? Are indigenous people "better off in the modern world", as some contend? My hunch is that few Native Americans would advocate that what has happened was a necessary trade-off to live in the "modern world" (although colonization ensures that there will be some who do).
As a non-native, my opinion is grounded in part by the fact that we have depleted Native American populations to a fraction of what they used to be and furthermore, as an act of covert racism, we often speak of them as if they were completely extinct. How many of us can name ten (or five... or even two!) nations or tribes which are still functioning? The denial on our part that many Native Americans survive and flourish under the oppression that they encounter is a tool to disempower them.
Representation of Natives in the media still represents them as savages or simple, prehistoric hunter-gatherers. John Wayne-esque movies are an easy place to see this. But these perceptions can be perpetuated in places we wouldn't expect. For example, the liberal environmental movement often stereotypes Native Americans as "living in harmony with the Earth", and perpetuates the idea that those who use electricity and watch TV are not "real Indians".
And for those of us who follow the quintessential American past time of baseball, how can we forget the friendly debates surrounding the "Tomahawk Chop" and the use of the name "Atlanta Braves". Call me anal, but someone has yet to explain to me how using Native Americans as mascots in the same category as socks and animals is honoring them. I'd love to know because considering the historic relationship between Native Americans with white America, it's not hard to compare that to a German soccer team running around with "Berlin Jews" blazed across their chests, as Ward Churchill once noted.
I know I'll be branded a PC warrior or someone who is fighting a symbolic battle. But I feel it's far from symbolic. Columbus Day, which glorifies a genocidal past, is a slap in the face to all who are victim to and are fighting against the racism that terrorizes this society. An appropriate response would follow Berklee, California's example, which officially celebrates "Indigenous People's Day".
Greg Czarnecki is a staff assistant at the Fletcher School.
