Columbus didn't mean to kill <i>all</i> Indians

Columbus didn't mean to kill all Indians

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2002

"Native American activists are busy reminding us that Columbus was a man of exploitation. Rather than bring progress, he brought smallpox, and those natives who survived were enslaved, and the sordid tale could go on for many pages.

So, in the spirit of the Bigot Awareness Week that never happened three decades ago, perhaps we could have an annual "Evil Day," focusing on some of the things that the Columbus Day protesters want us to look at.

For starters, we could try persuading people not to use the word "genocide" so casually. It literally means "to kill all members of a given genetic group." Hitler was genocidal - he wanted the earth rid of all Jews and Gypsies. Columbus wasn't genocidal - he didn't want to eliminate all Caribbean Indians; he just wanted to enslave them.

There's a big difference, and that's just the start of the misuse of 'genocide.'"

Get the Story:
Ed Quillen: Revising Columbus Day (The Denver Post 10/14)

Relevant Links:
Transform Columbus Day - http://www.transformcolumbusday.org
Rocky Mountain Independent Media Center, coverage of anti-Columbus Day - http://rockymountain.indymedia.org