Issue 2 Volume 9 Oct 1, 2013
Beacon
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Lighting Our Community
s u p m On Ca
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Ribbon Cut at James Ortiz Atrium On Display
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PTK Update
Revisiting Columbus Day The time has come to revisit history and the legacy of Christopher Columbus. For six centuries America has celebrated the fragrant untruth that Christopher Columbus “discovered” America, but why? It would seem to be unfitting. First, he did not discover America. Second, he did not make any contributions to science. Third, with him came the “Doctrine of Discovery” which justified the taking of Native American land. And finally, one of SMCC’s new FIGS required classes for incoming students is based around By Clara Jones
d l r o W r e h t O The
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Acting Out: Tar Sands
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Controlling the Inevitable
Op Ed Beware the Spiteful Tongue This Campus our Education
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s e r u t a Fe & s t r A Poetic License9
Redbull 10
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James Loewen’s book, Lies My Teacher Told Me and students may feel historically confused and conflicted. First, a little bit about the man and the holiday. He was born around 1451 in Genoa, Italy. He had an early fascination with ships that led him to his first job on a ship. He continued that work for some years until his ship was taken over by French privateers. Some say he had no choice, but to swim upstream on a log, in order to survive. Survive he did and soon thereafter made his way to college to study match, science, and of course navigation. Columbus was eager to explore and needed funding. His reputation wasn’t the best in Spain and found it difficult to obtain sponsorship. And then, one day King Ferdinand was playing a game of chess with a Spanish archbishop while contemplating whether or not to sponsor Christopher Columbus’ voyage. The King ended up winning his game, even though he cheated. Filled with happiness after winning, the King decided to fund Columbus’ voyage to the west. He set sail on October 12, 1492. The holiday was first celebrated in Denver, Colorado in 1906 due to lobbying by the Knights of Columbus who viewed Columbus as an icon for the right to citizenship. Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937. Most people, at least most people growing up in America have discovered Columbus did not discover America. America was after all named after AmerPhoto from Wikipedia
igo Vespucci a fellow Italian navigator who did make contributions by way of demonstrating there is more than one continent. Columbus did arrive on the American shores, on the twelfth of October in the year 1492. Columbus was not a kind man, it has been said he raped, tortured, and enslaved Native American children, women, and men. His actions led to the eventual largest genocide in the history of the world wiping out 95% of the Native American population. Christopher Columbus was far from a hero. Contributions to science and/or society? None, at least not any firsts, or discoveries. As Loewen pointed out in his book the only discovery made or to be made is from, “Having thus satisfied their consciences by offering the Native Americans a chance to convert to Christianity, the Spaniards then felt free to do whatever they wanted with the people they had just ‘discovered.’” The land, oh the land. In Native American culture land is not for sale. It cannot be sold, never be sold, done, finished, as it belongs to the Earth Mother and we are the keepers. Columbus believed otherwise and continued on with his quest to conquer the uninhabited, or non-Christian lands inhabited by native people. He was following and enforcing the rule of the Pope through a Papal Bull document; the “Doctrine of Discovery” which says land can be taken for ownership if it is uninhabited and/or if the landowner is non-Christian. Well, most American Indians are spiritual and believe in the Earth Mother, which was deemed as crazy and certainly not a valid religion. The crazy spiritual people are documented in the Declaration of Independence as the, “merciless Indian savages.” This libel is indicative of how the U.S. government has manipu-
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Honoring and Remembering The Constitution On Constitution Day, September 17 Tucked away, in the By Donna Chapman upstairs of Preble Hall sits a small glass showcase were the Social Science Department created a tribute to Constitution Day. A day to remember our Constitution, the forefathers who helped create it which has played a significant role in making the United States and the great Nation we have become. Some of us may have lost sight of the Constitution in these trying times, and some of us might not even have known there is a Constitution Day. Constitution Day was formed in 2004 with the passage of an amendment written by Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill. Constitution Day actually expands Citizenship Day into Constitution Day and Citizenship Day and falls on Setember 17th the day the constitution was signed in Philadelphia. Inside the language of the act, it is mandated that all educational institutions that are publically funded provide programming regarding Constitution Day on September 17th. This applies to any school receiving federal funds of any kind. Regardless September 17 and Constitution Day gives all United States citizens a chance to reflect
back on what was created in an effort to ensure the future of all of us. The Constitution’s Preamble which reads, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, es-
tablish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America,” establishes the origin, scope and purpose of the document. Looking at the words “domestic tranquility” in times of shootings, poverty and despair can still still give us hope. After all, the Constitution starts with, “We the people…” meaning that we all can come together, using what our fore-fathers before us used as words of hope to help turn our Photos by Angelica Lowell lives around for the better. We have the opportunity, using the educational opportunities at SMCC to better ourselves, going out into the larger world, helping ourselves and others while prospering. Think of it as securing our “Blessings of Liberty.” The words of the Constitutions Preamble are still as good today as they were when they were first penned in 1776. Thank you to the Social Science Department for this reminder and display.