Paula Sjogerman

on 5/10/03 9:15 AM, [email protected] at
[email protected] wrote:

> However because we live within the mainstream culture she sees for herself and
> is exposed herself to the images of the Natives having turkey with the
> pilgrims and of Columbus being welcomed by the Tainos.

I think both of those events DID happen. The bad things were how the white
people responded to the indigenous people. I remember reading an excerpt
from Colombus' journal, which was something like: The people greeted us
warmly. And then we killed them.


> We don't "celebrate" Thanksgiving in my
> household. We protest it and I explain to my daughter why and she has the
> option of participating with me or not.

We celebrate Thanksgiving as a time of...well... thanksgiving <g>, but we
always take the opportunity to remind the rest of my VERY mainstream family
about the truth about Columbus.

We DON"T celebrate Columbus Day.

Paula

sorcha_aisling

> We celebrate Thanksgiving as a time of...well... thanksgiving <g>,
but we
> always take the opportunity to remind the rest of my VERY
mainstream family
> about the truth

I always cook a big meal and have my parents over because their
parents are dead, their siblings are dead, and they enjoy celebrating
a holiday as a family more than they'd enjoy me declaring that I
don't do Thanksgiving anymore. But I always feel like a
hypocrite. "Be patriotic! Support Butterball!"

>
> We DON"T celebrate Columbus Day.<<
>

I live in a city *called* Columbus. I don't know if they still have
this, but there used to be life-sized models of his boats downtown.
Or one boat, I can't remember. Didn't go see it. I don't celebrate
Columbus Day, but I do have to remember that it exists because my
mom's birthday is October 11, and the post office is closed the
Monday of the week of her birthday, so I have to mail her card and/or
gift early so it will get there in time.

Sorcha

Heidi

> I think both of those events DID happen. The bad things were how
the white
> people responded to the indigenous people. I remember reading an
excerpt
> from Colombus' journal, which was something like: The people
greeted us
> warmly. And then we killed them.

I went looking for an excerpt we have, of something Columbus wrote,
it is in our Harvard Classics, but I can't find that volume right
now. Anyway, I did read it once upon a time, and I remember Columbus
being upset with his men for taking in broken pieces of colored glass
to trade with the natives. He ordered his men not to trade useless,
broken trash for the natives' valuable goods. Ordered? or requested?
I don't remember.

Mind you, he also took a whole bunch of Native people back to Spain
as slaves...and he also died a broken man, because in reality, he
wasn't a leader, but had been granted the governance of the West
Indies which position he was not equal to. He returned to Spain his
final time, in complete disgrace...like, in shackles or something.

HeidiC