Who are our Heroes?

Christopher Columbus, a Spaniard had a lot of courage or as he would say, ‘cojones’ for traveling the seas and going to great lengths to discover the Americas. Because of this, he is portrayed to be a great hero. A hero is a man of distinguished courage, noble qualities and brave deeds. Every year on October 12th we celebrate the day he came upon an island in the Bahamas… The enormous feats of crossing unchartered waters to arrive to a new continent in Columbus’s case involved a massacre of the land and people. Are these the acts of a hero?

As the sailors on the Nina, La Pinta, y La Santa Maria approached the island the locals, the Arawak Indians greeted them. “The Arawak’s lived in village communes, had a developed agriculture of corn, yams, cassava. They had no iron, but they wore tiny gold ornaments in their ears.” This was not good enough for Columbus. He did not want their crops, he wanted gold. He took some of them as prisoners aboard ship and insisted that they show him where the gold was. On the way back to Spain they took Indians as prisoners but as the weather turned cold they began to die off. This was only the beginning of their disintegration. Columbus presented his conquered lands as a beautiful miracle with ‘great mines of gold’s and other metals.’ Columbus promised the King and Queen “as much gold as they needed and as many slaves as they asked.” He exaggerated greatly and because of this he received seventeen ships to return. “The aim was clear; slaves and gold.” Is this kind of greed and dishonesty part of being a noble crusader?

Columbus ordered the Arawak Indians that were only fourteen years old needed to find an amount of gold in a highly difficult deadline of three months. If they found the specific amount they were given a necklace to hang around their neck. Identifying them with a necklace made it easier for Columbus and his men to rule. If they were seen without a necklace, Columbus or his men would cut off one of their limbs and let them bleed to death. The Indians tried to put together an army but they had no chance against the Spaniards and their tools made of iron. “In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.” Columbus took advantage of his authority and weapons. Heroism and courage are not the slaughtering of people.

These are the acts of a villain yet Columbus is considered a great hero in our history. What if noble acts included an exchange of learning about weapons and agriculture between all cultures? What if distinguished courage meant going out of your way to respect differences? Perhaps as a nation we would be celebrating different accomplishments from other ‘heroes.’