No discussion of racism and slavery should be without mention of the horrors that Christopher Columbus led in the Americas. Columbus was one of the first slave traders in the Americas. He was a servant of brutality and exploitation against the Native People of the Americas. He transported or sent thousands of slaves during his tenure across the ocean and along the slave routes. He and his hirelings completely destroyed native populations from the Caribbean, sending some captive Arawak people to Spain or to one of his mines as slaves. The often talked about rulers of Spain, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who were just as horrible as Columbus, brutalized human beings in the name of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost.
Those slaves who did not produce their quota of gold were tortured or had their hands or feet amputated. Others were whipped to death. Columbus wanted to gather as much gold as possible to satisfy the greed of Isabella and Ferdinand and the Catholic Church.
Eventually, when the gold fever diminished, silver mining thrived by working the Native People to death. His soldiers were also given permission to slice the skin of Indigenous People in order to test the effectiveness of their weapons. Those attempting to leave the mines were hunted down with dogs and torn to pieces. Others were simply hanged, burned to death, or tortured. Columbus was a psychotic killer and even some of his own kind rebelled against his brutality. Moreover, Native people died from the germs brought from Europe. This was often done on purpose as germ warfare was instrumental in killing off entire populations and then replacing the Native People with African slaves. This is why statues of Columbus are being removed across the globe or destroyed. The statue of Columbus was removed in San Antonio thanks to the Native American people and their allies, and the work of Indigenous leader, Antonio Diaz.
Historical falsehoods about Columbus are all around. These racist narrations of half-truths, omissions, lies, distortions, and erasures provided anchors for hatred across generations. The authors of the unnamed racist political structures have developed the art of hiding and never naming the concealed prescriptions of white supremacy in liberal and conservative arrangements. In many places, the falsehoods about Columbus, Ferdinand and Isabella are still being taught. The strength of white supremacy is derived from its invisibility and ability to change across historical timelines. White supremacy is almost never acknowledged by the sophisticated elite so as to prevent an autopsy and dissection of its structure. Of course, the overt racists never hide their intentions or words.
We now know that much of what we have been told about the Christopher Columbus story, and many other historical topics has been told within a tidy framework of white supremacy and its central role in the European exploration of the so-called New World. The three boats, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria are presented as the whole story. The brutality and murder that Columbus committed on these three dirty ships is hidden in the ship images. Columbus is the one person that made slavery an international problem. In 1494, dozens of slaves were kidnapped and brought to Spain. Columbus facilitated the sale of them to buy cattle and supplies to be shipped to the Americas. Columbus also participated in the African enslavement of people and had his own slaves aboard his ships. Columbus raped and pillaged people in the “New World” and yet his is still celebrated by white supremacists or just plain ignorant people.
