October 12 marks Columbus Day, but don’t be fooled by the myth of the “heroic explorer.” Christopher Columbus did not discover a continent: he unleashed the largest genocide in modern history, wiping out entire civilizations and millions of human lives.
Indigenous peoples welcomed him with gifts, hospitality, and curiosity, offering food, resources, and trust. And what did they receive in return? Horror and devastation. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children were killed, deported, or enslaved. Entire villages were burned alive, men and women decapitated or mutilated. Children were torn from their mothers’ arms and smashed against rocks. Women were raped, sold, or forced into sexual slavery, some as young as nine years old. Languages, traditions, and cultures were erased. Famine, disease, and systematic terror led to 12–15 million deaths in just the first decades after the Europeans arrived.
Bartolomé de las Casas, an eyewitness, described scenes that are horrifying to imagine: entire communities wiped out in a single day, children disemboweled, women violated in front of their families. And while this was happening, history celebrated Columbus as a “hero” and a “discoverer.”
These crimes cannot be sugar-coated. We cannot remain silent in the face of a systematic genocide that has been ignored and erased from official history books. Columbus was not a hero: he was a butcher, a bringer of death and destruction, the spark that ignited an unprecedented catastrophe.
The following day, October 13, marks Native American Resistance Day, a day to honor the resilience and ongoing struggle of Indigenous peoples. These are not just calendar dates: they are memory, protest, and resistance.
Love, solidarity, and support for my people. Never forget. Never remain silent. Never allow history to be rewritten by the oppressors.
Mitakuye Oyasin
Written by
Igmu-tȟáŋka Čík’ala
“Igmu-tȟáŋka Čík’ala” is “Little Lynx” in Dakota
#IndigenousGenocideDay #NativeAmericanResistance #NeverForget #HistoricalTruth
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