Something out of the reading from “A People’s History of the United States” was how little that I actually knew about the colonization of the United States. For example, I knew that a lot of Native Americans were killed but I was shocked to learn that more than 9 million were killed from wars, disease, and being taken prisoner. I think that my lack of knowledge on this topic just shows what a skewed version of history that is taught in schools in America. We learn the “white” version of history. I learned in elementary school that Columbus was the hero that brought my ancestors to this country. The version in this book paints him as much more evil. When he met the Native Americans, his immediate reaction was that they would make good servants. This is entirely because of the color of their skin, he immediately had no respect for them as people. I wish that schools in the United States would stop white washing history and give and accurate representation of the way that this country was colonized.
Honestly, I found the second reading boring and a little confusing. However, what I did get out of it was that sometimes I forget what a complex racial history the city of Richmond has. It of course stems back to the Civil War, but it did not end there. African Americans in Richmond had to fight and fight to get a fair amount of city counsel people to represent them. It goes to show how when a group of people is in power, they almost always abuse that power to stay in control . Reading this paper makes me what to take a closer look at Richmond’s government, and see how it may still be under representative of some groups of citizens of Richmond.
I was also really surprised in the number of deaths there were and never expected the fatalities to be that high. I had never heard anyone refer to the mass killing of many indigenous people as genocide, so I thought that it was really interesting that he brought that up and think it is a very valid assessment.
I totally agree with you where my personal lack of knowledge, in part, represents the way the American education system has in a way failed us. We also do not hear about the injustice and violence that still exists against Indigenous people and the failure of U.S. legislation to protect these populations. This could start with, as you mentioned, stopping the common practice of “whitewashing” history and being honest about Columbus and other prominent figures of his sort.
I totally agree with your idea of learning about our history from the “white” point of view. I also learned in my elementary and middle school years that Columbus should be idolized and viewed as a hero to citizens of the United States. But what the teachers failed to tell us was the truth. And the truth has the potential to change everything we believed about his discovery of North America.