The Quotable Cristobal Colon

While we enjoy a day off of work there’s also that wee problem of trying to figure out how to reconcile our relaxation with a day to commemorate a man who kicked off the whole imperialism and conquest of the western hemisphere thing…. A man who, having encountered the Taino of Hispaniola and Cuba remarked that:

 “They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them.” …  “I could conquer the whole of them with 50 men and govern them as I pleased.” [via Vito de la Cruz]

I like the way this article puts it – “What if Congress declared January 30, the day that Hitler was appointed German Chancellor, a national holiday? ”

This type of critique, though somewhat common, is not likely to take hold as a serious challenge to mainstream narrative on our day off.  Let’s be real. We’re unlikely to go baghdad with it today. We could, as Vito de la Cruz talks about in today’s Huffington post, simply not celebrate the man. You can reclaim it as a commemoration of Indigenous people’s? How ’bout Immigration Day? Or take the free day to Occupy Wall Street?!!!??

Actually, I think this some-e-card sums it up best: