Why Columbus Day Isn't About Columbus Anymore...

Note - This is a lot more fun as a performance piece. Also, it's still raw. I wrote it at work one day, so any feedback would be appreciated.





I’d be lying if I said I hate Columbus Day because of Columbus

That fuckers dead

No, it only bothers me because of the people who insist on celebrating it



They say it’s because I hate America

How can that be

When every veterans day I thank the Native Warriors who were always more willing to fight for a land that was stolen from them more than the sons of those who stole it



They tell me that it’s because I can’t let go of the past

Which is ironic

Coming from the people who will not rewrite their history to include the truths of genocide and slavery of the original peoples from all corners of the earth



But we’re NDNs, remember? We’re the better storytellers



So I asked a biligaanaa to tell me his story

About where he was from

No really, where was he from

Could he go back if he wanted to

Had his borders moved since his blood left

Learn his language, his history

Find an ancestors name on some piece of paper

And track his trek to this country



Yes.



So I told him my story.



No.



That all changed for me when a colony was

Left

Left lingering

Left living

Left leeching

Here.



Our stories tell us to take care of the lost

The lonely

The helpless

So we prayed for your souls

And we gave tomatoes to the Italians

Potatoes to the Irish

And chocolate to everybody else



But we’re NDNs, remember? We barter!



So in return we got the short end of the stick

Which isn’t so bad considering that the short end of the stick isn’t so short when you have to write long words like

Syphilis

Influenza

Bubonic Plague

Small pox

Tuberculosis

Typhoid

Cholera

All over it before you place a flag on it and bury it under 518 years of history

Along with us



I can see them

Standing in line passing along tips for complete domination

From Columbus to Cortez

John Smith to Kit Carson

A lineage stretching from coast to coast

Painting lines with blood and bodies

A line straight from Columbus down to the Rio Grande



But we’re NDNs, remember? We know to read in between the lines!



Your lines are so straight and rigid

Following nothing but the imagination

Contorted over mountains and rivers

And from one line to another I can eavesdrop

And even the lines know that the only lines that matter

Are the ones you draw



This isn’t about Columbus anymore

It never has been because it’s always been about you

Your pride in a man that set the standard for mediocrity by getting lost

Your freedom to march around the streets waving flags like YOU actually did something

Your history that you only know one day out of the year



But we’re NDNs, remember?



And the only thing we hate more than Columbus Day



Is Thanksgiving