Why We Should Not Celebrate Columbus Day

Columbus Day is a national holiday celebrating the day Christopher Columbus “discovered” America. There has been a big controversy on if America should still celebrate Columbus day. I think that we should not celebrate Columbus day. This holiday should be abolished because he took false credit, he made other people do his work for him, and he treated the Natives poorly. Christopher Columbus took false credit for things he did and should not be getting praised. Due to the fact that the Natives were already there, means he did not actually “discover” America. In source 4 it says, “The American Heritage Dictionary defines “discover” as “To be the first to find, learn of, or observe.” How can anyone discover a place which tens of millions already know about?”(Source 4- Why We Should Abolish Columbus Day). The Natives and lots of other people had already been there so technically he did not discover America. Also he claimed that he converted the Natives to Christianity, which was also a lie. Not one of the Natives converted to the Catholic faith. (Source 1- Con). Previous …show more content…
Columbus made Natives work for him and bring him things. If the Natives did not bring him gold he would cut their hands off. (Source 4). Not only did Columbus make the Natives do stuff for him, he started a slave trade that would later impact African people. In Source 4 it says, “he merely imported vast numbers of Native people from other islands to do his work for him, depopulating those areas in turn. He also sent large shipments of these people to Europe as slaves, thus beginning the pattern of transatlantic slave trade.” (Source 4). If the Natives are not enough, then instead of doing his own work, he made his men do all of the “dirty work”. Columbus made his men hunt down the Native and feed their dead bodies for dog food. (Source 4). But for Columbus, forced labor and slavery weren’t enough so he was very cruel to the