Colubus Day and Being White in the USA

This is from a facebook thread that got a little too big for it's britches, thought I'd share here.

Racism isn't always bad. I bet most Native Americans are racist. I think they damn well should be, and i'm white.
Happy f'n columbus day, wish the laws would let me go "home."

(reply - "no such thing as reverse racism")

I didn't say there was - just sayin, I'd gladly go back to Germany or England and give "my" land back - except -
1 - I don't own any land, I'm financially challenged and therefore rent - from an Italian land owner, coincidentally? - and
2 - every other country on the planet but the US has strict immigration laws for some reason, so they don't want me, even tho that's technically "where i'm from" - it ain't easy bein white. point is, this country is all kinds of #ed up.

I firmly not believe but KNOW that the ground I sit on right now is more rightly that of "Mexicans" than white people, and I sit on the graves of Native Americans, and as long as I do, there will always be an unpaid karmic debt, that I will never surpass.
That's called a "curse," in true Mexican AND Eurpoean heritages, and it's no bueno.

I'll just flag this since I don't wanna post while drinking. If I did, I'd likely get banned.

But yeah.

a reply to: KAOStheory

I firmly not believe but KNOW that the ground I sit on right now is more rightly that of "Mexicans" than white people, and I sit on the graves of Native Americans, and as long as I do, there will always be an unpaid karmic debt, that I will never surpass.

When I was growing up I used to travel to the Sierra Madre and marvel at the huge empty vastness of it and wonder how such landscape had never been settled. Then I found out the true indigenous populations of the American wilds were all mostly dead and I felt ashamed. Now I know why those huge places were so empty.

How ignorant we are of our own history. We learned in school of Columbus discovering America, like it wasn't already there. His forays for the Spanish Crown surveyed lands rich in peoples and culture and he wrote back to the crown that this place was "filled with people of solid stature and a strong back that possessed no guns or iron, or knew them". He let them hold a sword and they accidentally grabbed the blade, bloodying their hands.

"With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." He returned with a thousand slaves men and women, the men raped the women and sold the slaves to work in Spanish fields and factories for nothing but ill treatment. Eventually they "colonized" whole regions of America, the Carribean, central and South America, killing untold numbers and enslaving them until there were literally none of them left.

Yah, happy F 'ing Colombus Day.

What strikes me as so truly strange is that every OTHER culture should be respected, venerated, upliftend and so on while the bashing of predominantly white or european/american culture MUST be sanctioned at any and all costs. Have white men/people done evil things in the past? Does a moose poop in the wilds? Do birds sing? Of course! What I get sick and tired at the risk of 'offending' someone else is that it's OK to bash anything white but you cannot do that to other cultures because...that's racist! Our TRUE history is full of terrible things that should be taught in our schools BUT that doesn't mean that's the only thing that should be taught. There is far more good than bad but, of course, perspectives WILL differ and that's OK as well. Sorry but my rampant rantitis just kicked in big-time. reply to: intrptr

a reply to: caterpillage

thanks for the replies all, and yea, already am drinking lol. hence the rant. cheers

a reply to: 1FreeThinker

true dat.
i AM proud of my English, Irish, German, and French heritage - I just can't wear it on my sleeve, t-shirt, or facebook meme. I can, however, drink lots of booze and still type a comprehensive post. And for that, I am publicly proud.

a reply to: 1FreeThinker

I'm a mix of European and First Peoples ancestory and I can tell you that I have no problem being proud of all sides of my cultural backgrounds. My ancestors on all sides are equally relevant to me - even if that seems contrary to others who don't share ( or know they share ) such varied backgrounds.

The key is how one perceives or uses the word "pride". My pride of my ancestors doesn't make me feel as though they were superior or inferior to any other persons. I am the culmination of an endless stream of individuals who all did the best they could with what they knew and what they were taught to believe - just as everyone elses ancestors did.

The scars of the past are deep.

In the case of this particular holiday? Well visit a reservation that isn't built around a casino and it's easy to empathize with why the people who live there are still angry and untrusting.

a reply to: 1FreeThinker

Our TRUE history is full of terrible things that should be taught in our schools BUT that doesn't mean that's the only thing that should be taught.

They aren't taught at all. Thats what pissed me off the most. I carried that lie and bigot attitude through my formative years and into adulthood.

The cowboy and Indian hi priest John Wayne lied to us, too. it resounded from every wall and the truth was non existent. That vacuum of history and belief in the "savage redskins" is why I don't believe my government anymore. I figured out they are still lying to us to this day about all the reasons we go to war.

I don't take responsibility for things that happened before I was born nor am I a self-loather. Good luck with that though.

originally posted by: Metallicus
I don't take responsibility for things that happened before I was born nor am I a self-loather. Good luck with that though.

and that's why these things keep going..

Columbus didn't discover America. He discovered the West Indies. Exploration into the Continental US happened later.

I find it ironic that Columbus Day is an American holiday, and all the man did was allow Spain to enslave and kill off a race of people doing just fine in their matriarchial cultures but was deemed obscene and savage and forced by the Catholics to "civilize" them by throwing them into religious and cultural hell.

Sins of the forefathers....

Even more ironic is that the immigration policies of the colonizing countries almost is a bitch slap to the original exploration.

originally posted by: okamitengu

originally posted by: Metallicus
I don't take responsibility for things that happened before I was born nor am I a self-loather. Good luck with that though.

and that's why these things keep going..

How is that?
We should hate ourselves? We should feel guilty for things we're absolutely innocent of?
These things keep going because people keep bringing it up for political purposes. Nothing will ever change until you let the past be the past. It shouldn't be forgotten, but it should be put to bed. There is absolutely nothing that can be done about it now. Move on.

a reply to: ArchPlayer

Columbus did make landfall in Central and South America during his fourth journey to the New World. The only reason America is named after Vespucci and not Columbus is that Columbus always refused to believe he had found a new continent and died believing he'd simply found the far edge of the Indies.

originally posted by: Hefficide
I'm a mix of European and First Peoples ancestory and I can tell you that I have no problem being proud of all sides of my cultural backgrounds. My ancestors on all sides are equally relevant to me - even if that seems contrary to others who don't share ( or know they share ) such varied backgrounds.

I get this all the time when people ask me whats my family heritage. I identify strongly with my Native American side simply because while growing up I'd spend summer long vacations with family in either the California high desert or Southwest US Badlands etc. Riding horses, motorcycles-quads, firearms, basic survival skills - Trapping, hunting and fishing.

Then, return to the Concrete jungle of Southern California for the other 8 or 9 months for further indoctrination from the other half of my family with their customs and beliefs, Church going, family businesses, political identifications, affiliations and obsessions.

I don't know if my childhood was well rounded or overly convoluted but I can honestly state that I prefer a clear starry night away from Big City lights anytime

a reply to: KAOStheory

Happy belated Indigenous People's Day.. It has been called this v. Columbus Day in Berkley, Ca. for at least 20 years.. But as "many" know Cal Berkley is a hotbed of 'hippies and weirdos'...

namaste

P.S. The "Hippies" were/are 'right'...

originally posted by: okamitengu

originally posted by: Metallicus
I don't take responsibility for things that happened before I was born nor am I a self-loather. Good luck with that though.

and that's why these things keep going..

So you would feel better that every white person and their children, and their children's children etc. should feel guilty their entire lives because of something they had nothing to do with??

And what of us who have mixed heritage including Native American? Shall we cut ourselves into pieces and send them back home?

Isn't it a bit ironic that while we celebrate Columbus Day (who brought disease from another country) we are fighting Ebola.

a reply to: beezzer

The whites brought smallpox, the Aboriginals countered with Syphilis. While not a direct even trade - both sides got Columbus Day gifts.

Ebola? That's just nature reminding us who is in control.

originally posted by: KAOStheory
a reply to: 1FreeThinker

true dat.
i AM proud of my English, Irish, German, and French heritage - I just can't wear it on my sleeve, t-shirt, or facebook meme. I can, however, drink lots of booze and still type a comprehensive post. And for that, I am publicly proud.

"Colubus" day and being whong in the USA.

ftfy

originally posted by: Hefficide
a reply to: beezzer

The whites brought smallpox, the Aboriginals countered with Syphilis. While not a direct even trade - both sides got Columbus Day gifts.

Just like NAFTA!

Ebola? That's just nature reminding us who is in control.

True dat.