Bye Bye, Columbus Day

Pajamas Media ^ | April 22 | Travis Rowley

[AJKauf]

Several weeks ago the Brown University faculty ratified a student petition demanding that the university abandon its recognition of Columbus Day. The directive was enacted by Brown’s Native American student group, whose spokesmen defend their activism by pointing out the atrocities committed by Christopher Columbus and his men upon the indigenous people of the newly discovered continent. Some have suggested that the holiday be renamed Indigenous Day, but for now Brown has decided to settle for Fall Weekend — a weekend in which Brown students and professors will still enjoy a Monday off from work.

Now that Brown University has set new moral standards for preserving traditional namesakes, some are wondering if Brown students will petition to scratch the name of a slave-trading family from the face of their university.

Or will they look into the misdeeds of Martin Luther King Jr. in an attempt to save the nation from commemorating anyone who may have blemishes on his moral record? Will there now be an academic investigation into the countless atrocities committed by Native Americans, prompting the removal of tribal names from casinos and other landmarks?

Probably not. But nobody expects consistency from liberals anymore anyway....

[Vaduz]

They had all those slaves,so did many indian tribes guess they made the slaves make pointy sticks.

[Smokin' Joe]

I see the Indian culture as a flawed, inferior culture that was overrun.

I don;t think you are seeing the culture, only the technology. Don't bother to point out the drunken perversion of Indian culture present in the dregs of Indian society on reservations either.

There are winos and druggies, the homeless and bums in every culture.

[Smokin' Joe]

I think Vlad the Impaler was from further East...

Why build a road when the major trade was done along rivers? Just like other cultures.

[Parmy]

There you go!

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***The wheel requires roads, limits travel, and is higher maintenance. Hardly an improvement, especially in mud or snow. ***

The early traders did well with Red River carts.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***The wheel requires roads, limits travel, and is higher maintenance. Hardly an improvement, especially in mud or snow. ***

The early traders did well with Red River carts.

[Smokin' Joe]

Red River Carts were used especially by the Metis. They were the only group to kick the snot out of the Sioux on the plains, when a band of Sioux attacked them.

The Metis hunted for the Northwestern Fur company, and HBC as well as others and were crack shots.

The part of the plains they frequented had either been glaciated or was lake plain (former lake bottom of Glacial Lake Agassiz, known today as the Red River Valley). South and west of that, (south of the Missouri River) the terrain is more conducive to travois than the wheel, with the exception of the river bottoms in mid to late summer, which are already navigable for most of the rest of the year.