The editorial board of the Vanderbilt University student newspaper wrote an opinion piece Wednesday criticizing the school for not doing enough to denounce Columbus Day, which was Monday.
The editorial described Christopher Columbus as being worse than notorious American serial killers.
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry issued a proclamation urging people to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and Metro Council passed a resolution urging the same. More than 50 cities and a few states celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday.
The editorial board of the Vanderbilt Hustler said that “Vanderbilt’s silence on the matter is problematic.”
“Yes, an indigenous professor was invited to talk about the indigenous genocide. But Vandy needs to go further,” the opinion piece said.
The editorial board said it hopes that next year “Vanderbilt will stand against the actions of predatory settlers and stand with indigenous people.”
In its opinion piece, the editorial board did not attempt an even-handed scholarly examination of Columbus and his work. Instead, it pandered to the progressive hysteria about Columbus, going so far as to say that if the Italian explorer, who sailed for Spain and made the Americas known to Europe, were alive today, “he would be a national villain, making Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer look tame.”
Here is the full text of the editorial:
This year, Nashville decided to join other progressive communities like Charlottesville and Austin in denouncing Columbus Day. Mayor Megan Barry signed a proclamation that declared the second Monday of October “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” In doing this, she acknowledges the native genocide and places the culture of indigenous people over the myth of Columbus.
For a long time, Christopher Columbus has been seen as a symbol of the American Experiment. He was a determined explorer who wouldn’t take no for an answer. He willed his way into unchartered territory. He is responsible for our presence on this continent. Yes, the romantic image of Columbus can be seen as a noble manifestation of this nation’s spirit.
But romance is not reality. And the reality is that Columbus and his men were murderers, rapists and pedophiles. In his chilling book “American Holocaust,” David Stannard describes the savage acts that these “heroes” committed. Live people were fed to dogs, their entrails and limbs torn apart. The dogs became so accustomed to eating humans that the bodies of indigenous people were sold at markets. The settlers would take a cut of meat and feed it to their beasts.
Along with hunting down people for sport, Columbus’s men had no qualms about stealing the bodies of the women and children. Mass rapes were ubiquitous. Moreover, these rapists are cited as preferring children–some as young as nine and ten years old. The creatures terrorizing the coasts were so feared that villages often executed mass suicides so as not to face the horror of the invaders.
Are we okay with statues and parades celebrating a rapist? A murderer? If Columbus were alive today, he would not be memorialized. He would be a national villain, making Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer look tame. We wouldn’t deify them. It would be an insult to the people they murdered. Likewise, a holiday for Columbus is a slap in the face to indigenous people whose ancestors were murdered by Columbus and people like him.
That is why Megan Barry decided to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day. And it is also why Vanderbilt’s silence on the matter is problematic. Yes, an indigenous professor was invited to talk about the indigenous genocide. But Vandy needs to go further. The Native Americans in Tennessee Interacting at Vanderbilt called on the administration to join other major institutions like Brown, Cornell and Syracuse in implementing Indigenous Peoples’ Day. If it does not answer this call, it will demonstrate that Vanderbilt cannot take the time to right wrongs and show empathy towards its indigenous students.
When October rolls around next year, we hope that Vanderbilt will stand against the actions of predatory settlers and stand with indigenous people.
Leftards want to make sure we don’t celebrate any whites on a given day.
I’m indigenous . I was born in Nashville. Do I qualify for victim status?
I am starting an effort to #boycottvanderbilt. If they want to to be anti-American, anti-christian, and a racist organization, there are plenty pf other heath organizations in the area. i am switching over to Centennial.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is stupid! Most of our ancestors came from overseas, mostly England. The so-called Indigenous Peoples migrated to America from somewhere else, probably Asia. America would never have been developed absent the English influence. Columbus deserves the honor of his own day.
Just another example among many recent examples of how Vanderbilt is nothing more than a development ground for cluelss liberals. I would not let my dog go there.
Imam Berry decided to do this because she would love nothing more than to see Nashville under Sharia law.
I Like this quote. “Vanderbilt will stand against the actions of predatory settlers and stand with indigenous people.”. The only invasion of indigenous people going on right now is the invasion of the left and Muslims against the indigenous people of the US and Western society. Think they will stand for that?