Brown votes to rename Columbus Day
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Renaming Columbus Day
Brown University is renaming its Columbus Day observance.Published: April 8, 2009
Updated: April 8, 2009
PROVIDENCE—Brown University is taking the “Columbus Day” out of Columbus Day weekend.
The faculty voted at a meeting Tuesday to establish a new academic holiday in October called “Fall Weekend.“ The long weekend coincides with Columbus Day.
Hundreds of Brown students had asked the Providence school to stop observing Columbus Day, citing the explorer’s violent treatment of Native Americans he encountered. Reiko Koyama, a sophomore who led the effort, says celebrating Columbus Day seemed inconsistent with Brown’s values.
The change will take effect in in the fall. Brown will remain closed on Columbus Day, in part to avoid inconveniencing staff whose children might have the holiday off.
Many other colleges are open on Columbus Day but give students short breaks later in the semester.
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I’m confused. They don’t want to celebrate “Columbus Day” but they are going to enjoy the day off anyway? I can see this year, due to the fact that families may have already planned for the long weekend, but in subsequent years? The article suggests that other colleges have classes….
In writing, exaggeration is meant to make a point. Maybe we need to agree to disagree. Also, I liked your youtube.
To gatsby 131:
>There are not degrees of slaughering humans. All is evil and unacceptable,
whether it was the Caribbean natives, First Nationers, Polish, Armenians,
Christians, Jews etc.
Agreed.
Do we get rid of Octoberfests because the Germans killed half of Europe or Japanese restaurants because of Pearl Harbor?
These are not Federal holidays and not endorsed by the Federal government. If someone wants to have Octoberfests and people want to attend as a private function, go for it. (BTW the German’s killed a lot of people, but not half of Europe.) Same with Japanese restaurants. People can go or not. This is a false argument. It has nothing to do with making Columbus a recipient of a Federal holiday.
>Where I am for or against Columbus, I understand that Columbus Day is part of the R.I. Italian’s culture.
And that’s fine if they want to celebrate him. Or, if anyone wants to celebrate him. But, not as a Federal Holiday. That’s the difference. By making it a Federal holiday you give it an imprimatur it doesn’t deserve.
>So, I would be nice if the residents of Brown would be a little more accepting of the Italian’s culture.
It has nothing to do with accepting or rejected Italian’s culture. We should not honor someone who engaged in genocide with a holiday. Nor should we honor someone as a discoverer of the United States (which is what people are celebrating) when he never did that. The Italian people, and anyone else, can celebrate Columbus all they want and no one will stop them. It just shouldn’t be a Federal holiday.
>And I repeat, the First Nationers could use help in their pursuits
with all the resources the college has—practice your values—give them
some help.
I can’t do anything to make the college do anything. But, privately I do help First Nationers.
Thank you for the new word, First Nation. I like that better,too. That makes sense.
There are not degrees of slaughering humans. All is evil and unacceptable, whether it was the Caribbean natives, First Nationers, Polish, Armenians, Christians, Jews etc. Hopefully, civilization is learning from the past to make for a better future.Although it is tough sometimes to see this.
My main argument against Brown’s vote is: I state again- What are Brown’s values? Its own history was based on enslavement of another cultural group.This makes for a contradiction of beliefs. I ask: Do we get rid of Octoberfests because the Germans killed half of Europe or Japanese restaurants because of Pearl Harbor? NO,NO. These are part of the Germans and Japanese culture, and we need to respect eachother’s cultures. Where I am for or against Columbus, I understand that Columbus Day is part of the R.I. Italian’s culture. I state again: Brown is not separate from Providence, but in part dependent on it. So, I would be nice if the residents of Brown would be a little more accepting of the Italian’s culture. And I repeat, the First Nationers could use help in their pursuits with all the resources the college has—practice your values—give them some help.
To gatsby131:
I can’t speak for the Brown students’ values, just my own. I fully agree with you about the Narragansett Nationers (my First Nation friends prefer the term First Nation rather than Indian).
But, why should it be either/or. Why can’t one disagree with a Columbus Holiday AND support the Narragansett First Nationers.
King Philip’s War was 183 years after Columbus and had more to do with the Puritans trying to force the Native tribes to accept Christianity and American ways, than Columbus. It was one of the bloodiest wars in our history, proportionate to population.
To gatsby131
The Vikings were just a little better. They didn’t engage in slave trading with those in the New World. However they did have a slave route throughout Europe and captured slovaks to be slaves. When they settled in an area they generally tried to integrate into the society. They didn’t murder their neighbors in the New World. For example, there were a lot of blue-eyed Nipmuc Natives from the Vikings intermarrying. And the Nipmuc language has a lot of Norse words. Likewise when the Vikings conquered England and ran it for about 150 years, they intermarried and when the Vikings lost control and left, many Vikings remained, especially in York (the Viking settlement of Jorvik which was their capital).
Because the founders of Brown were slavers, doesn’t justify keeping a holiday honoring Columbus. Changing the honoring of Columbus, might be just a start to righting other wrongs. You have to start somewhere.
If the Brown students’ values are so pure of heart then I challenge you to help the Narragansett Indians to obtain peace which they had lost hundreds of years ago with the settling of the New World by the Europeans ( remember the King Phillip War). Support a more worthwhile cause other than symbolicly taking a stand on a dead issue. Whatever happened to community service?
Yes, I stand corrected. I should have said the New World. Remember, the Vikings were no better. They not only settled, but killed whoever was in their way. Hopefully, we have learned from the previous evil treatments to humankind. But changing a name of a holiday when these people support an institution which was created on the same type maltreatment of humans (And, how many slaves were killed, abused, tormented etc for how many years?)is a contradiction to Ms. Reiko Koyama’s statement:“...celebrating Columbus Day seemed inconsistent with Brown’s values.“ for Brown was founded on money obtained from slave trading. What may I ask is Brown’s values?
The students and faculty at Brown are correct. Columbus was not the hero we were taught in earlier history books. More recent history books are more truthful about him.
This has nothing to do with political correctness, and everything to do with historical accuracy.
You can check out my video about Columbus (which is historically accurate) on youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT5cIeHPR-c&feature=channel_page
If the video seems to run too quickly for you to read the information, hit the pause/play button to stop it temporarily while you read. Then hit the pause/play button to start it up again.
Columbus did not discover America. The Vikings had settlements here (actually in North America) hundreds of years before. Columbus never even set foot on United States soil. He died thinking he had found a better trade route to India (hence First Nation people are called Indians).
Columbus engaged in genocide against the populations where he landed.
I urge everyone to research history and not rely on the inaccuracies you were taught years ago. There were lots of inaccurate stories in those history texts. My video above is a good starting place.
It is noble that college students find a cause to fight for but there are so many more tragic problems in the world today.What about Dafur?- to name one. Yes, the natives where treated badly. What about the original founding fathers and colonists in America? How did they treat the Native Americans? How does the R.I. government still treat the Narragansett Tribe in Rhode Island? Why doesn’t the collegeand intellegencia fight for a present day war ie help the Narragansett’s find their peace!
Brown and its students need to remember that they attend a college that was funded through the blood and sweat of slave trading. The Brown Family ( John, Nicholas and Moses) made money on slave trading before Nicholas and Moses became abolitionists. Your philosophies are a contradiction—(in simple terms) it is not ok to support Columbus Day because of his mistreatment towards humans, but it is ok to support and attend a college that mistreated African slaves and bought and sold human flesh for a profit. A belief cannot be truly assimilated unless it is fully adopted.
I have lost respect for a college that shows such a slanted view on the treatment of the human race.
R. I. Italians celebrate Columbus Day primarily because he was Italian and he founded America, nothing more and nothing less. We all know that history books leave out alot; many of us find the truth later on in life.
This is R.I’s cultural tradition, and I feel it is a insult to our state. Remembering many, many people at Brown are not from R.I..
Brown is part of Providence;it uses the fire and police, many of its students are student teachers at Providence schools, the students work in Providence and RI businesses etc. Brown is not its own island.
I will now think twice when Brown asks me to take a student teacher.
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