Robert Winters reports the Cambridge City Council voted 9-0 this evening to change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.
Councilor Nadeem Mazen proposed the idea:
Councillor Mazen stated that this issue is very important to him and that the American educational system needs to more accurately depict Indigenous history. He stated that politics is a trying process and good organization is important for making positive steps. He stated that Columbus probably was not Italian, did not discover anything, and was a war criminal. He stated that it is important to understand how our holidays are created and adopted.
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Comments
Of course they did
By anon
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 9:41pm
Next they'll officially change thier name to The People's Rebulic of Cambridge.
Well, before they do that, I
By anon
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:27pm
Well, before they do that, I hope they run it through spell checker...
Hilarious!
By Scratchie
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:33pm
Did you think of that all by yourself?
Insult to all Italians who
By GNQ
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 10:07am
Insult to all Italians who reside in Cambridge.
Council's response to you
By Refugee
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 1:01pm
[youtube]QP9VaP5qBgw[/youtube]
Columbus is the insult to Italians.
By BartolomeDeLasCasas
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 4:30pm
Actually, Columbus is an insult to we decent Italians, just like the Mafia is. I don't want that genocidal maniac representing my heritage. This isn't even looking back on history and now realizing the things he did were inhuman and disgusting; even his contemporaries, most notably a priest named Bartolome de las Casas, who started off as a slave trader, but ended up as an ardent opponent of slavery due to the atrocities he witnessed Columbus & Co. committing.
"What we committed in the Indies stands out among the most unpardonable offences ever committed against God and mankind and this trade (in American Indian slaves) as one of the most unjust, evil and cruel among them." – Bartolome de Las Casas
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day
http://www.skeptic.ca/Columbus_Alien_Terrorist.htm
Indigenous Peoples Day
By Turkey Liberati...
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 9:58pm
We will not stand for this injustice and Homosapien supremacist bigotry!
I wonder....
By PharmaGuy
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:10pm
I wonder what @thebelmontmoose has to tweet about this injustice and blatant orderism.
Between the Indigenous and their Turkey feathered
By bulgingbuick
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 8:41am
headdress and the Pilgrims and their Turkey Bloodlust I'd say Its about time for reparations, a clear recognition of the cultural appropriation of guys named Tom and the freedom to use any henhouse one desires. No longer shall you be last in the pecking order.
Humans suck. Animals are by
By anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 1:10pm
Humans suck. Animals are by far the superior being.
Nice work Cambridge!
By SoBoYuppie
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:17pm
Now its time for Boston to follow. Why are we always behind Cambridge???
- The Original SoBo Yuppie
name shmame
By mg
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:19pm
I have no problem with renaming the holiday. From everything I've read, Columbus was a truly loathsome SOB. As long as I still get the day off, I don't care what it's called.
We are Columbus
By EM Painter
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 7:12am
If we lived back then we would have done everything Columbus did.
But we don't live back then
By BostonDog
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 7:25am
Thankfully Columbus's rational of exploiting solely for personal gain is a historical relic. Now we only exploit for corporate and political gain.
That's Progress for ya
By EM Painter
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 8:22am
.
Nope.
By JonT
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 10:26am
"What do you mean 'we', paleface?"
Natives
By BostonDog
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 11:53am
FYI: Some of the natives to North America weren't so friendly either and would ruthlessly kill and enslave neighboring tribes. Columbus had technology and germs on his side but it's not as if attempts to conquer regions was Columbus's idea.
It hardly makes his action's right but socially his actions were widely accepted at the time, at least in Europe.
Along the same lines
By Anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 12:37pm
Slavery - who do you think did the conquering and enslaving in Africa, before slaves were loaded into the ships and brought here?
Exactly the same lines
By Scratchie
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 1:05pm
A stupid, irrelevant attempt to deflect blame and help white people avoid feeling bad about anything, ever.
Feel bad
By Anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 1:21pm
About what exactly? The fact that people were conquered, enslaved and sold as cattle? Sure, it's awful, but why should I feel guilty over it given the fact that my ancestors had nothing to do with it? It's like blaming someone who bought stolen tools and conveniently forgetting about the thief who robbed the house and the fence who fenced the tools.
We have the luxury of hating Columbus
By EM Painter
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 3:13pm
We are in the position to forget Columbus because of Columbus and men like him.
Europeans, colonists,
By anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 1:13pm
Europeans, colonists, Americans and also there were men in Africa who faciliatated this horrifying atrocity. Native Americans also took on captured colonial men, women and children as slaves. Slavery is abhorrent. It is truly revolting that slavery was still legal in the United States in the 19th century. The South's attempt to minimize the horror by claiming that some slaves were 'treated well by their owners' is nauseating. Texas publishes the majority of textbooks for schools and they are revising history by white-washing this shameful part of our history.
Well
By Anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 6:28pm
Slavery sure was abhorrent, but why not place the blame where it belongs? Those slaves would have been slaughtered by their (black afriKan) captors had they not been sold - slaves kept as unsold inventory were pretty damn expensive to the slavetrader, I would imagine. So, as fucked up as it sounds, those who ended up being sold were in fact the lucky ones.
right, because they weren't
By Kenneth
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 12:43pm
right, because they weren't totally peaceful their genocide was justified.
Black people would be Columbus too
By EM Painter
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 3:10pm
If anybody was in his position they would do pretty much the same thing.
We like to think we are better than they were but if you really put yourself in his position you would be very likely to do exactly what he did.
Not me!
By BostonDog
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 3:29pm
I'm pretty lazy. I'd probably just nap. Going on a long ship ride hardly seems like fun.
And you know, what...
By Roman
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 9:48pm
it doesn't matter one damn bit who the worse savage was.
Bottom line is that Columbus did great things and the whole world owes its present state of prosperity to him. The fact that he thought natives were animals (just like everyone else thought pagans were animals) has nothing to do with that fact.
If he didn't do it, someone else would have, sure. But that tends to be true of most great men in history, so it doesn't detract from everything. The fact that he was a savage on the side has nothing to do with the fact that he was factually the one who discovered the Americas for European civilization.
he was factually the one who
By chaosjake
Wed, 06/08/2016 - 3:07pm
[img]http://needhamhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/...
Mr. Erikson begs to differ.
"OMG POLITICAL CORRECTNESS RUN AMOK!!"
By Scratchie
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:34pm
signed, Every Asshole Everywhere
Nope, just you so far
By Roman
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:48pm
But please, don't let me stop you from tilting at your windmills.
Ooh...oops, that's a European cultural reference. Should I go stand in the corner?
Or you could refer to the
By MattL
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 6:14am
Or you could refer to the very first comment...
Those clowns
By anon
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:34pm
Make Tito Jackson & Co look like a great city councilor.
Hey don't short sell Titio.
By bulgingbuick
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 8:53am
He has the wits to have emptied the schools for a rally and press conference. These boobs did this on Cambridge Cable.
Child labor and political
By anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 12:50pm
Child labor and political soldiers?
What is that from? The Kony political playbook?
Wrong web site?
By anon
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:42pm
For a moment I thought I was on The Onion.
Put your money where your mouth is
By Roman
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:46pm
These people are Grade-A hypocrites unless they rename their city too. Cambridge is the name a colonizer gave to the place.
And needless to say that they ought to give up their possessions and live off the land, at the pleasure of whatever tribal primitives have a claim on this territory. None of this urban blight upon the pristine landscape, that's also a colonizer's imposition on this continent, or at least this corner of it.
Incorrect
By BullDetector
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:51pm
Cambridge was named after Cambridge University in England.
No, quite correct
By Roman
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 11:00pm
...by an English colonist. Certainly white, and quite likely male.
Nice After-the-fact edit
By BullDetector
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 11:18pm
But yes he was a colonizer. So was everybody back then except for the natives.
What edit?
By Roman
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 11:32pm
I said 'colonizer' the first time around. Maybe you just can't read.
The inevitable name change of Harvard University
By bulgingbuick
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 8:45am
is fast approaching. Perhaps UHub can initiate the new name contest?
I vote for French Toast Alert
By Lynne
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 9:12am
I vote for French Toast Alert University myself.
World's Greatest University,
By R Hookup
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 11:41am
World's Greatest University, of course.
Leave that place in New Haven
By bulgingbuick
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 3:00pm
out of this.
Snobby McSnobface.
By scollaysq
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 12:32pm
(I went to BU)
A.K.A.
By Scratchie
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 1:05pm
Drunky McDrunkface?
No, Jointy McJointface
By scollaysq
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 1:40pm
The drinking came later
Newe Towne anyone?
By angrydroid
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 11:07pm
Newe Towne anyone?
Newe?
By Roman
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 11:34pm
Verily 'twas there before an Englishman ever set sight upon it!
These people are Grade-A
By Scratchie
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 9:30am
I realize that attempting to explain this is like trying to explain the plot of Breaking Bad to the cat, but here goes:
The problem with Columbus is not that he was a white European.
The problem with Columbus was that he was a mass murderer who committed genocide.
If you have trouble understanding the difference, don't be afraid to ask a grown-up for help.
Please explain without condescending
By JonT
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 10:28am
Some people are genuinely ignorant of the history. Your explanation would have been fine without the first and last paragraphs.
No thanks
By Scratchie
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 10:52am
Not my job, boss.
And ban the wheel
By Crunchy
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 9:55am
Since it wasn't part of native American culture.
oh, FFS
By scollaysq
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 11:26pm
I am very tired of hearing from the hypocritical, gluten-free, Politically Correct Whole Foods crowd. Really, is this the big issue of the day? Sometimes you have to just let it go.
"Forget it, Jake; it's Columbus Day"
Columbus was a scumbag
By anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 12:40am
Cambridge does a lot of stupid things, but jettisoning Columbus was the right thing to do, and worthwhile.
One of the reasons some places are taking longer to do this is because some Italian voters in those places cling to Columbus as a source of pride, for some wrongheaded reason.
That's not nearly always that
By anon poster
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 9:39am
That's not nearly always that case, you don't need to make this about another ethnicity.
It's generally because the larger population doesn't always see the point.
My bad
By anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 3:37pm
You're right, I shouldn't have mentioned the Italian bit. Sounds like it's not the main reason, nationally. It has been in some places I've lived.
Most parts of the country don
By anon poster
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 9:41am
Most parts of the country don't have large Italian populations, so therefore, in most situations around the country, it's not because of them.
You can pick out some examples, but to always says it's because of that is a distortion. Usually it's because the rest of the residents in the area just aren't informed.
You may have seen a an
By anon poster
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 9:44am
You may have seen a an episode on a certain HBO series that had a minor plot line about that, but it's not usually the case in most areas since when you leave the Northeast there aren't that many Italians anyway. If there is a reason some places take longer it's usually related to the rest of the people.
Columbus
By Anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 12:39pm
Is a scumbag by today's standards, but he was a jolly good fella back in his days. Should we all slit our wrists just because our ancestors did some shitty things (that were considered great in their days) many centuries ago?
Actually
By mg
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 7:27pm
Columbus was also a scumbag by the standards of his day.
haha whole foods
By anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 6:10am
HAHAHA Whole Foods. Totally. Man, that place!
Where do you get your groceries BTW? I like Market Basket and Hannafords.
Totally.
By erik g
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 12:08pm
Me, I only eat things I've personally killed. That way, I won't get lumped in with those yogurt-eating New York Times reading straw-liberals that everybody seems to hate so much.
This makes eating pasta somewhat of a challenge.
[sub]Once I killed a corn stalk just to watch it die[/sub]
I drive to the Stop & Shop
By scollaysq
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 12:17pm
With the radio on
Gonna drive past the Stop and Shop
By Robert Winters
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 2:14pm
with the radio on.
Just like a roadrunner.
Nadeem is still an asshole.
By Cantabrigian
Mon, 06/06/2016 - 11:57pm
He would've renamed it to Kublai Khan Day if he thought it might make him look good.
Next stop Lechmere Station
By anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 6:28am
Its time for the Cambridge City Council to reverse its horrible resolution to keep the station named after a slave owner, rum runner, and loyalist to the crown of England. There are several MBTA stations named after slave owners in Boston and its time for Tito to demand that the names be changed.
I'm pretty sure
By Anon
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 8:20am
Vespucci was a slave owner, so was Washington.
and Vasco da Gama
By bulgingbuick
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 2:08pm
is responsible for all those Indian telemarketers.
The Dinosaurs
By bulgingbuick
Tue, 06/07/2016 - 8:50am
are gonna be pissed. Overlooked again.
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