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Many people in the United States[br]and Latin America
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have grown up celebrating the anniversary[br]of Christopher Columbus's voyage,
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but was he an intrepid explorer[br]who brought two worlds together
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or a ruthless exploiter who brought[br]colonialism and slavery?
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And did he even discover America at all?
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It's time to put Columbus on the stand[br]in History vs. Christopher Columbus.
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"Order, order in the court.
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Wait, am I even supposed to [br]be at work today?"
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Cough
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"Yes, your Honor.
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From 1792, Columbus Day was celebrated[br]in many parts of the United States
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on October 12th,[br]the actual anniversary date.
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But although it was declared[br]an official holiday in 1934,
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individual states aren't required[br]to observe it.
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Only 23 states close public services,
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and more states are moving away[br]from it completely."
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Cough
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"What a pity.
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In the 70s, we even moved it to the[br]second Monday in October
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so people could get a nice [br]three-day weekend,
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but I guess you folks[br]just hate celebrations."
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"Uh, what are we celebrating again?"
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"Come on, Your Honor, [br]we all learned it in school.
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Christopher Columbus convinced the King[br]of Spain to send him on a mission
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to find a better trade route to India,
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not by going East over land[br]but sailing West around the globe.
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Everyone said it was crazy because they[br]still thought the world was flat,
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but he knew better.
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And when in 1492 he[br]sailed the ocean blue,
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he found something better[br]than India:
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a whole new continent."
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"What rubbish.
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First of all, educated people knew[br]the world was round since Aristotle.
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Secondly, Columbus didn't [br]discover anything.
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There were already people living here[br]for millennia.
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And he wasn't even [br]the first European to visit.
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The Norse had settled Newfoundland[br]almost 500 years before."
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"You don't say, so how come we're not[br]all wearing those cow helmets?"
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"Actually, they didn't really [br]wear those either."
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Cough
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"Who cares what some Vikings did[br]way back when?
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Those settlements didn't last,[br]but Columbus's did.
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And the news he brought back to Europe[br]spread far and wide,
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inspiring all the explorers and settlers[br]who came after.
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Without him, none of us [br]would be here today."
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"And because of him, millions of[br]Native Americans aren't here today.
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Do you know what Columbus did[br]in the colonies he founded?
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He took the very first [br]natives he met prisoner
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and wrote in his journal about how easily[br]he could conquer and enslave all of them."
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"Oh, come on. Everyone was fighting each[br]other back then.
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Didn't the natives even tell Columbus
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about other tribes raiding[br]and taking captives?"
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"Yes, but tribal warfare [br]was sporadic and limited.
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It certainly didn't wipe out 90%[br]of the population."
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"Hmm. Why is celebrating this Columbus[br]so important to you, anyway?"
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"Your Honor, Columbus's voyage [br]was an inspiration
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to struggling people all across Europe,[br]symbolizing freedom and new beginnings.
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And his discovery gave our grandparents[br]and great-grandparents
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the chance to come here and build better[br]lives for their children.
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Don't we deserve a hero to remind[br]everyone that our country
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was build on the struggles of immigrants?"
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"And what about the struggles [br]of Native Americans
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who were nearly wiped out [br]and forced into reservations
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and whose descendants still suffer from[br]poverty and discrimination?
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How can you make a hero out of a man[br]who caused so much suffering?"
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"That's history. You can't judge a guy[br]in the 15th century by modern standards.
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People back then even thought spreading
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Christianity and civilization [br]across the world was a moral duty."
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"Actually, he was pretty bad,[br]even by old standards.
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While governing Hispaniola, he tortured[br]and mutilated
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natives who didn't bring him enough gold
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and sold girls as young as nine into [br]sexual slavery,
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and he was brutal even to the other [br]colonists he ruled,
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to the point that he was removed [br]from power and thrown in jail.
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When the missionary, [br]Bartolomé de las Casas,
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visited the island, he wrote,
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'From 1494 to 1508,[br]over 3,000,000 people had perished
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from war, slavery and the mines. Who in [br]future generations will believe this?'"
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"Well, I'm not sure I believe [br]those numbers."
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"Say, aren't there other ways the holiday[br]is celebrated?"
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"In some Latin American countries,
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the celebrate the same date under[br]different names, such as DÃa de la Raza.
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In these places, it's more a celebration[br]of the native and mixed cultures
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that survived through the colonial period.
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Some places in the U.S. have also[br]renamed the holiday,
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as Native American Day[br]or Indigenous People's Day
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and changed the celebrations accordingly."
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"So, why not just change the name[br]if it's such a problem?"
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"Because it's tradition.
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Ordinary people need their heroes[br]and their founding myths.
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Can't we just keep celebrating[br]the waywe've been doing for a century,
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without having to delve into all this[br]serious research?
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It's not like anyone is actually [br]celebrating genocide."
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"Traditions change, and the way [br]we choose to keep them alive
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says a lot about our values."
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"Well, it looks like giving tired judges a[br]day off isn't one of those values, anyway."
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Traditions and holidays [br]are important to all cultures,
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but a hero in one era[br]may become a villain in the next
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as our historical knowledge expands[br]and our values evolve.
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And deciding what these [br]traditions should mean today
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is a major part [br]of putting history on trial.