If You Celebrate Columbus Day You Are the Enemy

That means you, Joe Biden.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Ah, Columbus Day: that wonderful day every October when we get the chance to commemorate the life of a man who was, objectively speaking, one of the worst people of all time. What a thrill!

OK, cards on the table, you got me: I’m not actually all that into Christopher Columbus. In fact, I think he was pretty lousy. Luckily for me, I don’t need to tell you why, because Caitlin did that in 2020:

Christopher Columbus was a brutal, greedy, racist, tyrannical monster who murdered countless people, facilitated rape and sex slavery, and was a key player in the origin of both the Atlantic slave trade and Native American genocide. He was a power-hungry, self-serving colonizer whose actions were inarguably influential, but only in that he greatly contributed to the near annihilation of vast numbers of both people and cultures, the trauma of which is still palpable and ongoing to this day. 

What Caitlin said. You heard it here first, this is not a pro-Columbus website—and this shouldn’t be a pro-Columbus country, in any way. Yet it is still somehow deemed broadly acceptable for Columbus Day to be celebrated, and for politicians to align themselves with it. It’s long past time for both of those things to end.

Let me give you two examples of people who should be made to hang their heads in shame right now.