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(written 2010)

"History is written by those who win and those who dominate."
— Edward Said, literary critic

Every second Monday in October, Banks and schoolz are closed and government offices are empty in remembrance of the infamous European explorer, Christopher Columbus. For hundredz of yearz, Columbus has had a special place in the history of the New World. To Afrikanz, celebrating Columbus Day is actually celebrating the mass destruction of our own people! Instead of a day where we see parades and floats down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, it should be a day of mourning.

Not only was Columbus part of the initial european conquest of the world, his legacy serves as a blockade to the real history behind the purposely-covered fact that there were otherz, including Afrikanz not only in the America's, but sailed from other parts of the world to here well before him.

Still there's something historianz marvel Columbus for than the otherz. If you ask me, it's that thing that resides in YTs nature, the barbaric act of violence! He claimed everything he saw when he set foot on these territories. Native landz, mineral wealth, natural resources, and even the inhabitants immediately became European "property." This could only be launched with violence using torture, maim, rape, and other unspeakable acts.

Columbus introduced two phenomena that revolutionized race relationz and transformed the modern world: (1)the taking of land, wealth, and labor from indigenous peoples, which lead to their near extermination, and (2)the transatlantic slave trade or Maangamizi, which created a racial underclass.

The New World fascinated YT, most notably the elite. This obsession was directly responsible for a rise in European self-consciousness. From the beginning, America was perceived as an "opposite" to Europe in wayz that even Afrika never had been. In a sense, there was no "Europe" before 1492. People were simply French, Tuscan, etc. Now they began to see similarities among themselves, at least when compared to the native from the Americas. Basically, until the first Indianz and Afrikanz arrived, there were no "white" people in Europe before 1492. With the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Europeanz began seein' "white" as a race and race as an important human characteristic.

Columbus' own writingz reflect this increasing ideology on racizm. When he tried selling Queen Isabella on the wonderz of the Americas, the Indianz were "well built" and "of quick intelligence. They have very good customize," he wrote, "and the king maintains a very marvelous state, of a style so orderly that it is a pleasure to see it, and they have good memories and they wish to see everything and ask what it is and for what it is used."

Later, when Columbus was justifying his terrorist attacks and enslavement of them, they became "cruel" and "stupid," "a people warlike and numerous, whose customz and religion are very different from ourz."

He gives us the first recorded example of contradictory reports in the Americas, for although the Indianz may have changed from hospitable to angry, they could hardly have gone from intelligent to stupid that quickly. This change had to be in Columbus.

History has shown YT cares little of indigenous culture and viewz the local population as nothing more than a slave labor force. As a result, they began to disappear as the European invaderz advanced. Disease, forced labor, invasion, and conquest caused the deaths of millionz, something YTs clever enough to leave out of their history books.

It is this mass enslavement that provided America and Europe with its vast resources of wealth, natural resources, and free labor that enabled them to gain world domination mainly on the backs of Afrikan and other indigenous people.

Even though it has been historically documented there were otherz (including Afrikanz) who travelled to the America's hundredz if not thousandz of yearz before Columbus, there was one thing that set him apart from the other explorerz.

Starting in their early school yearz our children are told Columbus was an adventurer, forefather of human progress, a hero to humanity, and the sole discoverer of the Americas. History textbooks have painted him as a brave, daring, and enlightened explorer who singlehandedly pulled Europe out of the Dark Ages, but how he did it has been blatantly left out. The hidden jewel is the fact that Columbus is responsible for the murder of millionz of indigenous people. In fact, he may be on the Top 5 murdererz in the history of wo/man!

Let's be clear, if the life of Columbus continues to be celebrated, then hedz should be made aware of his entire life. By his own admission, he described himself as a slave trader — probably having sent some 5000 more than any other individual, starting first in Afrika then bringing this practice to the Americas — and a conquerer. I think he was bein' modest. I would add he was an invader, pirate, savage, and probably the worldz first serial killer! I mean, this man should be added to the notorious list of murdererz which include Napoleon, the Rothschild click, Cecil Rhodes, Hitler, Stalin, Jim Jones, even the (George) Bush family (to name a few)!

Tallying the total number of victimz will probably never be known, but they may likely surpass the amount of hedz just mentioned. Columbus was a different kind of killer. He was more like the alleged islamic terrorists behind 9/11, which is called a spree killer. Only in a whiteman's society can a man who instigated the genocide of a people be widely celebrated for it.

He was responsible for slaughtering, enslaving, and exploiting Native inhabitants and Afrikanz the moment he arrived to the New World, causing a massive epidemic, along with European diseases that claimed countless lives. What emerges from this hallow-day is not only the memory of the bloodshed that he caused, but also the accompanying sainthood he's received serving as YTs tribute and praise of white dominion by way of widespread destruction.

1492 marked the beginning of the end for the natives. Most of those who didn't die from the diseases YT brought — like diphtheria, measles, smallpox, and malaria — were killed outright, expelled from their land, or forced into slavery. By the way, there's insurmountable evidence that show Columbus wasn't the first European to reach the Americas. As a matter of fact, he never claimed to have done so; white historianz did it for him.

By this time, our Afrikan Ancestorz already knew the earth was round and sailed here as early as 1500BC; almost 3000 yearz before Columbus. Thanks to the work of Ivan Van Sertima, this is proven by the numerous unmistakably Afrikan-featured Olmec Headz (17 found to date) that were sculpted in the Gulf of Mexico region. During Columbus' era (the 15th century), the greatest mindz of europe were still thinking Earth was flat. Actually, Columbus thought the earth was pear-shaped and was way off on his calculationz about the size of Earth as well as the distance between Europe and Asia.

As said, Columbus wasn't the discoverer of the Americas and although he was the vital piece to the european conquest of this part of the world, he wasn't the first at that either. A viking by the name of Leif Erikson who visited what we know call Newfoundland almost 500 yearz before Columbus reached Hispaniola — a major island of the Caribbean which comprises of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. So actually, Erikson was the man who pioneered european colonization. But I digress, this piece is about Columbus, hedz know who he is… or do we?

THE TRUTH ABOUT COLUMBUS
What do the wordz 'colon' and 'colonializm' have in common? Not only do we find one as the root word of the other, it is also the original name of this infamous pirate, Christopher Columbus! A 'colonic' is a procedure that uses irrigation to clean the colon for therapeutic benefits. 'Irrigate' is defined as a continuous flow of water. In this case, water is symbolic for caucasianz as they flooded the globe with their terrorist crusades to conquer land and its inhabitants.

Columbus' real name was Cristobol Colon! Some additional facts you won't find in YTs history books are:

1) Colon came to the western hemisphere by mistake. He was searching for the "East" looking for, among other thingz, spices and other commodities to help a starving Europe to preserve their meats. Since Europeanz did not, at that time, have knowledge of longitude and latitude, Colon ended up sailing West to the Caribbean Islandz. Arriving there, he called the Indigenous people "Indianz", thinking he was in the "East Indies" near the Asian country of India. Thus, he re-named all of the Indigenous people "Indianz" which was not their natural names. He later had Afrikan navigatorz on board who knew longitude and latitude.

2) Colon never stepped foot on the American mainland. He landed in the Caribbean islandz. Upon landing there, he received reports of Afrikanz having visited there long before his voyages. In fact, Afrikanz had sailed to the Pacific Islandz at least 1000 yearz before Colon and traveled to the western hemisphere at least 2000 yearz before he was even born!

3) Colon praised the hospitality of the native people, yet said that they had to be destroyed in order to take control of the wealth of their landz.

4) Prior to sailing to the New World, Colon sailed along the coast of West Afrika, capturing Afrikanz for enslavement in Portugal. This was facilitated by Papal Bulles, another name for proclamationz, statues, or a bill, issued by Popes of the Christian Roman Catholic Church. In 1455, the Pope issued a bulle to Portugal authorizing it to reduce to servitude, better put, enslave "infidelz" or non-christian people. This was followed by a Papl bulle issued by — peep the name — Pope Innocent VIII in 1491 that divided the world into two halves for the purpose of enslaving Afrikan and other Indigenous people. The Pope gave the eastern half (Afrika, etc.) to Portugal, and the western half (the Americas, etc.) to Spain. Colon came to the Americas representing Spain. Britain, France, and other enslaving European countries did not follow this protocol and the mad dash to slice up the world for European benefit began and its damaging effects persist to this day.

When we analyze the Columbus Day Parade, which again happenz every second Monday in October since 1929, it beginz on Fifth Avenue at 47th street and goes on up to 79th Street. Is there any surprise the day starts out with, 'Columbus Day Mass' which takes place at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue and 50th Street?!!? So we see here again, the Roman Catholic Church and christianz paying homage to their god whom they believe condones these acts of the monstrous wrath the lineage of Popes have unleashed (and continue to unleash) on the world, particularly, Afrikan people — I can't tell you how much it vexes me to see brainwashed Afrikanz attend.

Make no mistake about it, this country shows their appreciation of Columbus' pillages religiously and through government — naming state capitolz (Columbus, Ohio), cities and even built statues in his honor. Columbus Circle sits right next to Central Park in New York City (read, 'Urban Unrest--Afrikan Burial Ground: Remnants of Slavery in New York'). See, we have to really take a look — with Afrikan eyes — who this country deemz worthy of praise. When you do, you'll see of the many monuments, statues, parks, and streets names, most are of men who should be considered criminalz to humanity because they either were in on the origin or participated in the enslavement of Afrikanz and exploitation of our resources.

CHRISTOPHER KILL-UMBUS: THE EXPLORATION/EXPLOITATION OF THE NEW WORLD

"As one gatherz eggz that have been abandoned in fright have I gathered the whole earth..."
— Sennacherib, the Assyrian King (705-681BC)

As mentioned, the significance of Cristobol Colon’s voyages to the western hemisphere, is that this opened up Afrika and the Americas to mass murder, rape, destruction of entire cultures, stolen wealth of the people, and mass enslavement of Afrikanz and the Indigenous people of the Americas for hundredz of yearz by Europeanz. European profits from enslavement were shot well over 5000%! Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop estimated that upwardz of 300million Afrikanz lost their lives during the 400+ yearz of European enslavement.

In Ivan Van Sertima's book, They Came Before Columbus, he spoke of the origin of the Treaty of Tordesillas, drawn June 7, 1494. This was the result of a meeting Columbus had with Don Juan, the King of Portugal. Juan conspired with Columbus, drawing a divider of the world between the two Catholic kingdomz. Any and everything west of the line would go to Columbus and Spain, everything east, to Juan and Portugal. This is the audacious mindset of an invader, havin' no regard of other humanz, feelin' — through the "authority" of their church — they can divide the world and take everything in it for themselves.

What hedz don't know is accompanying his lust of invasion, Columbus had an insatiable appetite for greed. He demanded from Spain one third, one eighth, and one tenth of everything found in the New World. "Thus, if the gainz amounted to $2400 for a ship, Columbus would expect to receive first $800 for the third; next $300 for his eighth; and last, $240 for his tenth, making in all $1340, more than the Crown." (James Bailey, The God-Kings and the Titans pg. 51)

Columbus was also a con man plotting further to scam his own country for riches from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella — the only one's who financed his expedition in the first place giving him 3 ships (the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria), a crew of 90 men and money. He convinced them of a few islandz he could explore not revealing the vast land and riches the Guinea route and South America had. He basically told the King and Queen South America was an island so he could have the rest for himself. Because of this and other growing skepticizmz they had with him dealing with the Portuguese Isabella started to become suspicious.

History doesn't talk much about his partnerz-in-crime and blood-brotherz, Bartholomew and Giacomo. Bartholomew built a colony in Espanola named after the Queen, Isabela, then moving to a new settlement called Santo Domingo near newfound gold mines. Rebellion from the settlerz soon evolved forcing Columbus to request a judge be sent from Ferdinand and Isabella to calm thingz in the fall of 1500AD. Little did he know this judge really came to strip Columbus of his title as governor and viceroy and actually arrest him and his brotherz. They were seized, placed in chainz and dragged back to Spain naked and in disgrace.

On December 17, 1500, he went before the royal court and was given back stolen his riches but not his titles. He spent the remaining six yearz of his life trying to, as historianz put it, restore his "honor" as if his deedz were honorable (well they were if you were white).

But his pillaging didn't end there. Now that YT was able to continue their global conquest, on May 9, 1502, he was granted a fourth voyage with instructionz to search for gold, silver, precious stones, spices, and other riches and was told to stay away from Hispaniola. Of course he did the opposite, landing at Santo Domingo on June 29th, partly because of an oncoming hurricane.

After the hurricane he sailed to Central America. The voyage took a toll on his ships forcing him to land in Jamaica instead of a return to Hispaniola. Literally shipwrecked, he and his men were marooned on the island. The people of Jamaica grew tired of providing food for these pirates. In response, Columbus came up with one of his tricks. Using an almanac he had, he threatened to punish the islanderz by taking light away from the Moon. On the night of February 29, 1504, there was a lunar eclipse, but the people of Jamaica were unaware, so they believed Columbus' alleged spell. They immediately went back to providing for them (realize the kind of devious manipulator he was to even come up with that).

On his first voyage, Columbus kidnapped some ten to twenty-five Indianz and brought them to Spain. Only seven or eight of the Indianz arrived alive, but along with the parrots, gold trinkets, and other exotica, YT began to froth at the mouth. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella immediately provided Columbus with seventeen ships, about 1,500 men, cannonz, crossbows, gun, cavalry, and attack dogz for a second voyage.

This savage documented all this in his own journal! On October 13, 1492, his initial encounter with the Arawaks, he wrote, "At daybreak great multitudes of men came to the shore, all young and of fine shapes, and very handsome. Their hair was not curly but loose and coarse like horse-hair… Their eyes are large and very beautiful." He added, "I was very attentive to them, and strove to learn if they had any gold. Seeing some of them with little bits of metal hanging at their noses, I gathered from them by signs that by going southward or steering round the island in that direction, there would be found a king who possessed great cups full of gold."

At dawn the next day, Columbus sailed to the other side of the island, probably one of the Bahamas, and saw two or three villages. He ended his description of them with these menacing wordz, "I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men and govern them as I pleased." His log further illustrates his intentionz, "As soon as I arrived in the Indies [Bahamas], on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts."

When he returned to Haiti in 1493, they demanded food, gold, spun cotton-whatever the Indianz had that they wanted, including sex with their women. To ensure cooperation, Columbus used punishment by example. When an Indian committed even a minor offense, the Spanish cut off his earz or nose. Disfigured, the person was sent back to his village as living evidence of the brutality the Spaniardz were capable of.

After a while, the Indianz had had enough. They initially refused to plant food for them and they abandoned townz near the Spanish settlements. Eventually, the Arawaks had to physically fight back, but their sticks and stones were no match to what Columbus had.

These attempts at resistance gave Columbus an excuse to make war. On March 24, 1495, he set out to conquer the Arawaks. According to Kirkpatrick Sale, who quotes Ferdinand Columbus' biography of his father, "The soldierz mowed down dozenz with point-blank volleyz, loosed the dog to rip open limbz and bellies, chased fleeing Indianz into the bush to skewer them on sword and pike, and 'with God's aid [wtf?!!?] soon gained a complete victory, killing many Indianz and capturing otherz who were also killed.'"

Having as yet found any gold, Columbus had to return some kind of "commodity" to Spain. In 1495 the Spanish on Haiti initiated a great slave raid. They rounded up 1,500 Arawaks, then selected the 500 best specimenz (200 died on the way to Spain). Another 500 were chosen as slaves for the Spaniardz staying on the island. Columbus was excited. "In the name of the Holy Trinity, we can send from here all the slaves and brazil-wood which could be sold," he wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1496. "In Castile, Portugal, Aragon,.. . and the Canary Islands they need many slaves, and I do not think they get enough from Guinea." He closed saying, "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."

Author Hans Koning, who wrote a couple books on Columbus writes, "There now began a reign of terror in Hispaniola." Spaniardz began hunting Indianz for sport, murdering them for dog food. Columbus was certain gold was on the island and in his rage, set up a tribute system the Indianz were forced to pay tribute to the Catholic Sovereignz every three months.

In the Cibao (Dominican Republic today), where the gold mines were, every person 14 yearz of age and up was to pay a large hawk's bell of gold dust; all otherz were each to pay 25 poundz of cotton. Whenever an Indian delivered, he received a brass or copper token he must wear around his neck as proof he made his payment. Any Indian found without this token was punished. The punishment? Their handz were cut off! With a fresh token, an Indian was safe for three months, where much of which time would be devoted to collecting more gold.

The tribute system eventually broke down because its demandz were impossible to meet. To replace it, Columbus installed the encomienda system, which he granted Indian villages to individual or groups of colonists, a so-called "lighter" form of what was able to escape the classified term, 'slavery'. Since it was not called slavery, this forced-labor system didn't receive the backlash slavery received. Following his example, Spain made the encomienda system official policy on Haiti in 1502; other colonialists followed suite introducing it to Mexico, Peru, and Florida.

The tribute and encomienda systemz killed many more. In Haiti, the colonists made the Indianz mine gold for them, raise Spanish food, and even carry them everywhere they went. Pedro de Cordoba wrote in a letter to King Ferdinand in 1517, "As a result of the sufferings and hard labor they endured, the Indianz choose and have chosen suicide. Occasionally a hundred have committed mass suicide. The women, exhausted by labor, have shunned conception and childbirth… Many, when pregnant, have taken something to abort and have aborted. Otherz after delivery have killed their children with their own handz, so as not to leave them in such oppressive slavery."

Some tried fleeing to Cuba, but the Spanish followed them there. Estimates of Haiti's pre-Columbian population range was as high as 8,000,000 people. When Columbus returned to Spain, he left his brother Bartholomew in charge of the island. He took a census in 1496 and came up with 1,100,000. "By 1516," according to author, Benjamin Keen, "thanks to the sinister Indian slave trade and labor policies initiated by Columbus, only some 12,000 remained." There were fewer than 200 alive in 1542. By 1555, they were all gone.

The slave trade destroyed whole Indian nationz. To replace the dying Haitianz, the Spanish imported tenz of thousandz more from the Bahamas. Packed in below deck, with hatchways closed to prevent their escape, so many slaves died on the trip from the Bahamas to Hispaniola that a ship without a compass, chart, or guide, only needed to follow the trail of dead Indianz who had been thrown overboard.

Because the Indianz died, slavery then led to the massive slave trade the other way across the Atlantic, from Africa. This trade also began on Haiti, initiated by Columbus's son, Ferdinand, in 1505. Predictably, Haiti then became the site of the first large-scale slave revolt, when Blacks and Indianz banded together in 1519. The uprising lasted more than a decade and was finally brought to an end by the Spanish in the 1530s.

Long after the death of Columbus, his family struggled to have his titles reinstated and his legacy restored. This struggle resulted in a small victory in 1509 when Diego became governor of Hispaniola. However, the new landz that Columbus invaded were never given his name. They were given to another invader and fellow Italian, Amerigo Vespucci.

Murdererz of humanity are honored/remembered with holidayz in this country even as a foreigner, but home-grown Freedom Fighterz like the non-violent Martin Luther King have to go through great lengths to even be in the discussion (and there are many more worthy like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X; not to mention global iconz who've yet to be bestowed this honor like Steven Biko and Patrice Lumumba or of Antiquity, Queen Hatshepsut and ancient Kemet)! This gives a clear indication as to what America and other european nationz regard worth remembering, so it shouldn't come as a surprise. This is the nature of the beast.

But for everyone else, there is no way we should participate nor honor this wicked iconic european holiday, parade, and certainly no statues! Columbus Day celebrates the doctrine of rediscovery — the legal process that stole indigenous people's territories which continue to this day.

Since we live in a country supposedly founded upon freedom, liberty, and democracy, does Christopher Columbus deserve to have a national holiday? It's obvious for me, but I leave this question for you to decide…

**UPDATE** Be sure to read: 'HIDDEN NOTABLES: 9 SELDOM-KNOWN FACTS THAT DISCREDIT CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS'

REFERENCES
• Urban Unrest--Afrikan Burial Ground: Remnants of Slavery in New York
• Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust by Dr. John Henrik Clarke
• They Came Before Columbus by Prof. Ivan Van Sertima
• Capitalism and Slavery by Eric Williams
• Ancient Egyptian Survivals in the Pacific by R. A. Jairazbhoy
• Criminalizing A Race by Dr. Charshee C. L. McIntyre
• Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust: Slavery and the Rise of European Capitalism - John Henrik Clarke
• Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen
• Thanks (for)getting: the origin of Thanksgiving
• Afrikan Burial Ground - Urban Unrest...Literally
• http://columbus-day.123holiday.net/christopher_columbus.html

VIDEO
• Black History in America • They Came before Columbus (Short Clip): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRUG98yrHlE&feature=related

• Way Before Columbus or the Egypt Pyramids Washitaw:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Woh6JlpfrTU&feature=related

• Video clips that shows mounds in North America:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDENGjJmH68&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_xtDjzOYos&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZGhrsrGEHI&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuAlBcmKbPY&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw3J5wP7gjI&feature=related

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