Time to Cancel Columbus Day

Time to Cancel Columbus Day

Paul Scott



"Information we get today is just wack. But ask yourself, why is that?"
Hip Hop artist KRS One




As a child, I don't know what I learned first, the lyrics to the Jackson Five's hit "ABC" or that little ditty about Columbus sailing "the ocean blue in fourteen-hundred and ninety-two." Anyway, the latter had a much greater role in shaping my world view and that of many others.

October 12, is Columbus Day; a time that is traditionally set aside to honor the "founder of western civilization," Christopher Columbus.

However, to some of us it is the glorification of one of the greatest lies ever told in the history of mankind. For the drones who will be partying on C-Day, I bet not one of them will ask the basic, fundamental question "How can someone discover a new world when there were real live breathing human beings already there?"

But, in America, not only do folks celebrate such outlandish myths, they create holidays around them.

I never understood the proper way to celebrate Columbus Day, anyway. What do you do, go out and "discover" the UPS package left on your neighbor's doorstep?

What many people recognize as Columbus's great "discovery" merely marks the beginning of European western imperialism.

According to James Loewen in his controversial book "Lies My Teacher Told Me," the coming of Columbus should be remembered for two things; "the taking of land, wealth and labor from the indigenous people, leading to their extermination" and "the transatlantic slave trade."

If you don't believe me, the next time you run into a Caribbean Arawak...

Oh, that's right you can't because, thanks to good ol' Chris, they don't exist, anymore.

Also, it must be noted that, according to researchers such as the late Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, author of "They Came Before Columbus," African people (among others) visited the West long before the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria dropped their anchors in the Caribbean.

So, the real purpose of Columbus Day is to reinforce the idea of European global Manifest Destiny, "the white man's burden" or whatever excuse used to justify the subjugation of the non-European people of the planet.

What is most disturbing is the fact that falsehoods such as the Columbus myth still form the cornerstone of the United States educational system.

This is especially sad during a time when a nonwhite person is leader of the free world.

I don't care how many education initiatives that President Obama launches, unless the citizens of this country challenge traditional western thought, they aren't worth a hill of beans.

How can we encourage our children to value education when we allow myths to go, unchallenged ? How can we ask our youth to think for themselves and not succumb to the evils of peer pressure if we,as adults, don't have the guts to smash the idols of our collective intellectual oppression ?

We tell our young people not to believe the images that they see on BET and the lyrics they hear on Hip Hop radio stations but at the same time we tell them it's okay to believe in historical fairy tales.

It is time that we finally have the courage to stand up and say that we will no longer allow lies parading as truth to poison the minds of our children. In order to do this we must not only tell the truth about Columbus Day but all the other myths that plague us.

Collectively, we must push for a society where truth trumps educational dogmatism.

Over the last year this country has changed politically. Now it is time for us to change mentally.


Paul Scott is a self-syndicated columnist and author of the blog, No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com

NWSF Exclusive: The Genetics of Genocide

Irritated Genie at Know Bookstore

NWSF Exclusive: The Genetics of Genocide

Paul Scott

When NC Judge Howard Manning used "academic genocide" to describe what was happening to students in the Halifax County school system, last March, most people just dismissed it as a catchy catch phrase. Few really understood the significance of the word "genocide."

Webster's dictionary defines genocide as "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group." Therefore, genocide is not committed by accident but is a well thought out system to destroy a race, physically and mentally.

Last night, a lecturer known only as "The Irritated Genie of Souffes" spoke on the subject of genocide and it's impact on cultures of color at the Know Book Store in Durham, NC.

During the lecture, the Irritated Genie traced the history of genocide back to when Christopher Columbus first came into contact with the indigenous people of the western hemisphere to the present.

"Whites are calculating ways to kill us, " he said. "It's not about hatred, its about the truth."

He sited the examples of the way that germ warfare in the form of small pox in blankets was used to exterminate the Native American and how the entire ingenious population of Tasmania was wiped out by Europeans.

The fact that the genocide of the Native Americans is celebrated by the naming of the mascots of football teams was not lost on the lecturer.

He also talked about the genocide committed in African countries such as the Congo by Belgium King Leopold.

The most striking part of the lecture was when he tied the history of genocide to the present plight of African Americans, citing everything from guns and crack to the number of abortion clinics in the black community. It must be noted that the connection between abortion and black genocide has also been mentioned by white ministers such as Pat Robertson of the 700 Club.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9ngyRk2vhs

Hip Hop was not spared as he pointed out the financing of pioneer gangsta rap group NWA (Niggas With Attitude) by white investors (Jerry Heller) and how the lyrics of some of the rappers contribute to the genocide of young black males.

The lecture served as a wake up call for those who believe that the mis-education and mass incarcerations of black people are due to some cataclysmic accident.

"Genocide is a process," he said.

The Irritated Genie's website is http://www.waronthehorizon.com


Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com

NWSF Bullet: Is Zimbabwe Being Attacked by Cholera ?

There is a story running this weekend that most black folks who are obsessed with football or busy giving merchants their hard earned money so that little Shaquana can have some "Santa Claus" this year, will miss but according to the Associated Press, the Herald, Zimbabwe's state run newspaper is reporting that some believe that the United States and Great Britain are responsible for the cholera outbreak in their country.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081213/ap_on_re_af/af_zimbabwe

The original story that appeared in Zimbabwe's, the Herald is here:


http://www1.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=1541&cat=1


Say it ain't so!

Would these pillars of morality and civility really conduct biological warfare on a poor African country?

Now, most black folks who don't read anything deeper than "urban novels" with stories about how Drug Dealin' Big D got shot by Latoya's baby's daddy" or watch bootleg Tyler Perry movies, every night, instead of watching African history documentaries by Dr. John Henrik Clark probably won't pay this story any mind.

But those of us who have read "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney, "Africa in History" by Basil Davidson, "Medical Apartheid" by Harriet A. Washington or "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" by Patricia Turner know that history teaches us that such an event is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Then again, most folks who believe that the Bloods and Crips, in this country, murder each other because "that's just what black folks do" and that malt liqour, crack and high powered assault rifles just magically find their way into poor, black neighborhoods, will refuse to believe that such a thing could happen no matter how much information you place in front of them.

I guess the old English dude, Thomas Gray was right when he said ," Where ignorance is bliss, ‘Tis folly to be wise."

However, whether you believe it or not, as Hip Hop group Mob Deep once rapped on "Survival of the Fittest,"

"There's a war going on outside, no man is safe from..."

Especially if you're black...