Published in
Oct 12, 2020
Is Christopher Columbus really a man worth celebrating? It’s a question posed every year on this day when the country pays homage to the Italian explorer’s arrival in the Americas in 1492. But our country’s commemorations conveniently ignore Columbus’ well-documented human rights atrocities.
As Jessica Valenti writes, “Columbus not only facilitated the murder and torture of Native people — on multiple occasions he ordered people’s ears and noses cut off as punishment — he was a sex trafficker and slave trader.”
