2008 Woodie Awards
Discarded
Student group rejects Columbus Day and promotes Indigenous People's Day
ROSANNA ANDERSON AND COLBY STREAM
Arbiter Journalists
Issue date: 10/16/08 Section: News
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These are a few of the words Taino tribe member Bobby Gonzales read from his poem Monday, Oct. 13 when anti-Columbus supporters boycotted the national holiday on the Quad.
“Today we are kind of celebrating Indigenous People’s day,” Intertribal Native Counsel President Hailey Wilson said. “Today is the observed Columbus Day, but from the native perspective we have a lot of difficulties accepting Columbus Day and the whole stigma that Columbus is a hero. We want to get the real facts out there.”
The assembled students wore skull masks and black hoodies as a form of protest.
“[The costumes] represent a kind of facelessness and death I would say,” Anna Cox, co-chair of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (Chicano student movement), said.
“What we’re trying to do is get people’s attention in a way that kind of symbolized what we’re standing for,” Wilson said. “Kind of what we’re symbolizing with the skull masks and the black hoodies and everything is like, the native people who have died.”
Gonzales, a Native American poet, lecturer and storyteller, spoke later the same evening in the Special Events Center in the Student Union Building to tell American History through Native eyes.
“I’m here today to participate in this anti-Columbus day demonstration,” Gonzalez said. “People ask me, ‘Was Columbus a bad guy?’ Well, I say, ‘He was a rapist, a murderer and a thief.’ In 1495 he began the transatlantic slave trade. He put 500 of my ancestors on a ship to be sent back to Spain to be sold into slavery and made them die before they even reached there … And he stole all of our land and we lost our religious freedom. We had to become Christian, like it or not. It was really a horrific time and we’re still suffering today.”
The student groups said the point of the group was educating students.
“What we really want is for people to open their eyes,” Wilson said. “People really don’t understand, and a lot of people don’t want to understand, that there’s a lot of things wrong in U.S. history. We want them to be open-minded and get out there and be skeptical of everything. Ask questions of everything. Don’t just accept what they tell you in class.”
Gonzalez confirmed that the reason he came to the protest wasn’t just to stir up trouble, but to show American History from another point of view.
“Even though we’re here against Columbus we still want to make a positive statement,” Gonzalez said. “Right now today we live in a time of great warfare and hatred and we can break out of this warfare but the first step is to look at history honestly and that’s not too easy and we’re just asking people, let’s look at history honestly and try looking from both sides of the issue.”
No students came forward against the protest. What do you think? Go to arbiteronline.com to leave a comment, or write a letter to the editor and send it to letters@arbiteronline.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Ryan
posted 10/21/08 @ 8:40 AM MST
Really??? Columbus day protests? That's pretty low. Where's the Arbor Day protests? Do you have any idea how many people have died in tree related accidents? Can we get a formal write up on the "Talk Like a Pirate Day" protest? Ya know pirates were terrible people. (Continued…)
Auston
posted 10/25/08 @ 6:23 PM MST
Yeah and you should be real proud your from a country that celebrates murder, rape, and assimilation. What an American Holiday!
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