Progressives use Columbus Day to force feed our children and grandchildren liberal shibboleths, teaching them to despise America. They weaponize history with their mantra that America (and therefore you) is evil and genocidal and that all indigenous people are noble and peace loving. I also tackle the issue of slavery, which is central to the war against the West. Progressives derive sadistic pleasure from assailing our holidays to riddle us with guilt. Following are the facts.
Treatment of Indigenous People
Throughout history, without exception, whenever a more technologically advanced society encountered an aboriginal people, it ended very poorly for the natives. What would have happened if the Aztecs were more advanced and discovered paleolithic Europe? What would have happened if the Arabs or Chinese beat Columbus to America? It is manifestly unfair to condemn only Columbus for human behavior that has been unchanged since men lived in trees.
Did Europeans Commit Genocide?
Most deaths post-Columbus resulted from infectious diseases brought from Europe, many of which migrated from Asia. The bubonic plague originated in China, and decimated the population of Europe, yet no one blamed China. In the fifteenth century no one understood infectious diseases and contagion of the indigenous population was inevitable no matter who discovered America.
No Western nation pursued a policy of genocide. There is not one record extant showing that genocide was to be practised. If there was such a record, it would have been seized upon long ago by those falsely screaming “genocide”.
Did Americans Commit Genocide?
Wounded Knee has become the latte-left’s poster child for alleging genocide. The Miniconjou Sioux suffered 197 casualties (146 killed, 51 wounded). The US cavalry had 64 casualties (25 killed, 39 wounded). The ratio of casualties was 3 to 1. Compare this to the Iraq War ratio of 11 to 1, Agincourt 15 to 1 and Gaugamela 80 to 1. No one ever refers to these as massacres or genocides. Note: The US cavalry cared for the wounded Sioux and transported them a great distance for treatment – hardly genocidal.
Indigenous Peoples as Peaceful and Noble
How could a tiny number of Europeans conquer vast territories and subjugate large populations? Columbus allied with the Arawaks against the Caribs, who were vicious cannibals. Cortez, with only 500 conquistadores, conquered the Aztecs only with the help of 50,000 natives terrorized by the Aztecs’ enslavement and human sacrifices. It was much the same with Pizarro, who had but 180 men when he landed in Peru. Progressives fault the West while ignoring even worse savagery by the natives.
Africans Complicit in the Slave Trade
Instead of being forcibly captured by European slavers, most slaves were sold by other Africans – even by their own families. The slave trade could not have flourished without the support of African elites. In America, emancipated slaves, who could afford it, also owned slaves.
“Selling one’s neighbors, and even one’s own children, into slavery is more condemnable than buying them.” (Voltaire)
Slavery and Western Civilization
Slavery is evil and condemnable always and everywhere. However, progressives focus only on slavery in America and divorce it from all context and often heroic efforts to abolish it. Following is much needed context, much of which may surprise you.
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Slavery has been a constant throughout history. From the 15th to the 19th century, 10 million slaves were shipped from Africa to the West – mostly to the Caribbean. A far greater number (15 million) was sent east to the Ottoman Empire.
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The eastern nations do not have the same legacy as the US, which today has tens of millions descended from slaves. This is because the Ottomans castrated their slaves and killed their slaves when their usefulness was over.
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Barbary pirates captured and enslaved over one million Europeans.
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Many heroic efforts were made by the West to end slavery. England abolished slavery in 1807 and the Royal Navy wiped out the slave trade in much of the world over a 50-year span. They captured 1,500 slave ships and freed 150,000 slaves at a cost of over 1,500 dead Englishmen. Some historians consider this the most expensive moral action in modern history.
There are more slaves in 2026 than at any other time in human history
There are fifty million (50,000,000) slaves today1 and this does not include tens of millions held in peonage. In the US there are 5,000,000 slaves (35% of which are children) found in all 50 states. They are being trafficked for sex and forced labor. Chattel slavery thrives in many countries – some of which have open slave markets.
Columbus Revered Throughout Latin America
Although progressives consider Columbus an evil oppressor, he is regarded as a hero in Latin America – by those most directly affected by him. They celebrate the day he landed as Dia de Raza, or day of the race. While Columbus statues are being defaced and removed in the US, new ones are being erected in the rest of the hemisphere, including one in Puerto Rico taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Without Columbus and the Spanish colonization of Latin America, Latinos as a people would not exist. The rich Latino culture incorporates the skin tones and characteristics of Spanish, African and indigenous Americans. By honoring the courage and bravado of Columbus, Latin Americans celebrate their own place in a world he made possible. Without Columbus there would be no Latinos.
Happy Columbus Day 2026
Christopher Columbus is not the issue. He never was. Columbus Day is just one part of an ongoing and vicious campaign by liberals who despise America and indeed all of Western civilization. Happy Columbus Day 2026!
Source: Operation Underground Railroad or “OUR”, the organization behind the fact-based movie: The Sound of Freedom.
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