Columbus vs Indigenous Peoples Day

You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

And following the light of the sun, we left the old world.

Christopher Columbus.

If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans.

I love that Hawking quote because it is so unpackable.

He does not say Columbus discovered America, as most of us learned as schoolchildren.

Though, from a Euro-Asian mindset, that is precisely what happened.

Hawking does note things were not propitious for the future of Native Americans, and he got that right.

But who exactly are Native Americans? After all, the only true native Homo sapiens on our little planet were those from East Africa.

Unless, of course, he means those born in a specific place.

But by that definition, then I, too, am a Native American hailing from Wisconsin.

I like the first people's denomination.

I think that's the one that has more accuracy.

And this brings us to the word indigenous.

Two definitions are provided.

The first originates or occurs naturally in a particular place or native.

The problem with that is, as noted, given the Bering land bridge, that is not to, let's say, the Sioux or the Apache.

After all, they were not native, necessarily.

In fact, no human beings were.

Every human being in the Americas came from someplace else.

However, if birth is the criterion, then it is still me.

So let's look at the second definition, which I think is closer to the mark of indigenous.

That is of people inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times or before colonists' arrival.

You see, they hit me at the earlier part of the definition and then ruined it with that bit of leftist tripe thrown in.

I marvel at Merriam-Webster today, which uses literary gymnastics to accommodate progressive ethos.

You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

And following the light of the sun, we left the old world.

Christopher Columbus.

If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans.

I love that Hawking quote because it is so unpackable.

He does not say Columbus discovered America, as most of us learned as schoolchildren.

Though, from a Euro-Asian mindset, that is precisely what happened.

Hawking does note things were not propitious for the future of Native Americans, and he got that right.

But who exactly are Native Americans? After all, the only true native Homo sapiens on our little planet were those from East Africa.

Unless, of course, he means those born in a specific place.

But by that definition, then I, too, am a Native American hailing from Wisconsin.

I like the first people's denomination.

I think that's the one that has more accuracy.

And this brings us to the word indigenous.

Two definitions are provided.

The first originates or occurs naturally in a particular place or native.

The problem with that is, as noted, given the Bering land bridge, that is not to, let's say, the Sioux or the Apache.

After all, they were not native, necessarily.

In fact, no human beings were.

Every human being in the Americas came from someplace else.

However, if birth is the criterion, then it is still me.

So let's look at the second definition, which I think is closer to the mark of indigenous.

That is of people inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times or before colonists' arrival.

You see, they hit me at the earlier part of the definition and then ruined it with that bit of leftist tripe thrown in.

I marvel at Merriam-Webster today, which uses literary gymnastics to accommodate progressive ethos.