I thought the Zinn reading was really interesting because I love history.  I was also amazed about how much I didn’t actually know about one of the first history stories we learn about in school.  In high school, I had learned that Christopher Colombus was actually a pretty bad person, but I had never learned all of the specifics and this reading taught me the extent of the harm he did.  The article mentioned that by 1650 there were no more Arawaks or their descendants left on the islands because they had all been taken and ended up dead.  This is genocide and it is crazy to me that we are not taught more about the harm that Christopher Columbus inflicted on others.

It is interesting to think of this in connection with the systems theory readings from last week and see the drastic effects that come from oversimplification.  Oversimplification does not only leave parts of the whole story out, but it distorts the story and changes the entire narrative.  Christopher Columbus’s story has been so oversimplified in our history that despite the fact that he committed genocide, our country still has a national holiday for him and has statues and other commemorations of him.

I thought that the first article was really interesting. Though it can be shocking, I like learning about how the history that I thought I knew is all wrong. (#thanksJepson) It’s especially interesting because I am from Virginia and we have to learn a lot about the Native Americans that inhabited Virginia before Europeans arrived and screwed everything up. I always thought that Europeans had come to North America and created Jamestown without really interacting with the people already living there. Looking back, this was a naive and clearly wrong description of what happened, but we were taught a very whitewashed version of history that I am still trying to fix in my mind. I thought the numbers that the first article gave us were crazy. They said that 10 million people inhabited the area that is now Mexico and after Europeans arrived and basically waged war, that number went down to 1 million. And a lot of those 1 million native peoples still alive ended up dying from disease brought over from Europe. I was never taught the negative effects of colonialism until a lot later in my education and even then it was still more rose-colored then what actually happened.

I think that the idea of whitewashed history is also seen in the second article. though I am from northern Virginia and not Richmond, I still had years of state history education and I had never even heard of anything that this article was talking about. It talked about how African American people registered to vote quicker and more than white people and that made the white people upset. They were afraid of the African American population ‘controlling’ the city. To retaliate against the increase in African American voters, white people tried to annex areas with predominantly people of color. They tried to group them all together so they could minimize their power. In school I never learned about any of this, I was taught that the VRA was passed and everything was sunshine and rainbows for the most part. There was some violence but they did not tell us about this systemic abuse of power that happened. And I’m sure that Richmond was not the only city that had issues like this. I just think it’s shocking how history is recorded and whose story it depicts, because it definitely does not tell everyone’s story.

The sheer capacity of harm done by Colombus and the Spaniards itself is overwhelming, but the fact that history books tell a completely different story demonstrates one of the biggest flaws today. Not only was the violence and brutality skimmed over, but scenes were painted about Native Americans that painted them as less than human, less than civilized: glorifying colonization Zinn’s comment that “the easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress that is still with us” really struck me as pure truth. This quote is a truth that reveals itself in history books, in many of the holidays we celebrate, and especially in the things we don’t talk about.

There are so many examples of this acceptance of atrocities:  the treatment of the mentally ill, the story we tell about Thanksgiving, the land taken from Native Americans. And even further are things we attempt to completely leave out. I was 19 years old when I learned about the United State’s sterilization efforts. Our time of Eugenics only ended in the 1970s. My parents were just out of college then..  American history books completely leave out the fact that America was huge on the sterilization of disabled people and was called to Germany to teach their methods… We talk about the holocaust, it is too large of an atrocity to accept, but that detail that America not only played a part initially but also participated in the sterilization of peoples without their consent is left out of the modern-day history textbook.

it is mind-blowing how little we know of our true history. Just thinking about how this is true for most countries, painting completely different pictures of who the victims are, hiding away the dark side of the past. This is where biases begin to form: when we are just beginning to learn in school. This creates negative biases around nationalities, religions, cultures of others, preventing genuine human connection cross-culturally. And few people have the opportunity to read things like this to gain awareness and work toward unraveling these biases and looking for that wider truth. So not only are people reading romanized histories of their own societal past (which I would argue hunters true human progress), but this creates dividing lines as we romanticize ourselves and falsely demonize others.

I think that the Zinn reading brought across some really intriguing points on how we should look at historical events. While I was reading the chapter, I kept going back to the idea that winners write history. The winners (in this case Columbus, King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella) focused on the prosperity their acts brought for Spain, and the world largely focuses on this as well. At the time, their largest concerns were what they could do to grow their empire and enrich themselves, and would resort to any measures necessary to accomplish this, even if it meant brute violence. This mentality of winners deciding how the world will learn about their actions has a large long-term impact, as we still celebrate Columbus’ voyage with a national holiday and elementary school children are taught to romanticize his voyage and discovering America over 500 years ago, and disregard the advancements Native American settlements had achieved at that time. While this may seem innocent at first, first impressions of historical events have lasting impacts on people, and it is difficult for people to change their perception of events once they have learned about it. This influence has allowed for Americans for centuries to refer to Native Americans as ‘Indians’ only due to the fact that Christopher Columbus believed he landed in India when he reached the United States. My main takeaway from this is how critical it is to be cognizant of the impact colonialism can have on marginalized groups and industrious nations for centuries to come, and that their influence can be in both direct and indirect ways.

I thought the second reading was also very interesting because it made me more aware of the discrimination African Americans faced in our own backyard just a few generations earlier. I have read about the various ways southern states worked around national legislation to discriminate against African American voters but was shocked to learn about to what extent it reached. An instance that particularly struck me was to what extent white elites would go to prevent an African American from earning a spot on the city council due to their fears of losing power.

I think both examples demonstrate how power can easily corrupt an individual’s perception of morality and to what extent they are willing to protect their influence. It can be difficult at that time to realize how long-lasting their influence will affect the way society views these acts in the future. In both examples, their influence is still seen in the modern world, as many people still refer to Native Americans as Indians and African Americans still struggle with segregation and gaining political influence. Both of these examples signify the importance of having both accounts of the incident, so future generations can determine the significance of the event beyond the winner’s account.

To say I was disturbed while reading Zinn’s chapter, “Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress” is an understatement.  It was revolting to read of the horrible killings and malicious burning of indigenous communities’ crops and villages, amongst other things.  I was distressed reading these accounts, even though I had read many of them before.  When Zinn stated these horrible beginning of history between the Europeans’ invasions of indigenous people’s land, it made me reflect on what history I have been taught.  In fifth grade, we did projects on European explorers – mine on Hernán Cortés; this contributed to the systemic indoctrination of romanticizing these wealth-driven Europeans.  In middle school, you learn of the Trail of Tears and reservations; it wasn’t until I took an English class on Native American Literature in college that I got a glimpse into the generational affects of Europeans’ actions centuries ago.  Early exploration of the Americas is romanticized by schools and media and holidays (why do we even celebrate Columbus Day?); in reality, it made the lives of indigenous people – and minorities alike – troubled through each generation.

Hayter’s work contextualizes this in the fight for voting rights of African Americans in Virginia and the greater southern states.  Richmond was cultivated in an ideology of segregation and power inequality.  Moving into the Civil Rights period, African Americans had been oppressed for so long; their fight to secure voting rights was the avenue to gaining a voice.  Wealthy whites continued to disregard African Americans through voting laws and annexation; this was essentially the Europeans burning crops and villages to eliminate opposition.  And even though Richmond had few victories, like electing an African American mayor and a majority African American city council, they have been restricted within the city and the federal system to structurally alter the wealth and education available in the city.  As Hayter concludes with, “it is imperative that we remember America’s long history of cloaking disenfranchisement in the garb of ‘good government.'”

This weekend’s set of readings emphasized to me how unaware I was of the world around me at a young age. Reading Zinn’s description of the history of the America’s has an incredibly different feel to than school textbooks. More so than anything else, he highlights that the America’s were not filled with barren forests when the Santa Maria arrived, but instead quite the opposite. He states that Native American populations were as large and densely populated as Europe itself, and that a significant culture had developed. They had laws, established communities, and peace throughout the land. It is an absolute shame that the Arawak tribes greatest weakness was their desire for peace. They were easily overtaken because rather than defending themselves upon Columbus’s arrival, they swam out to the ships to greet the explorers. They offered food and other goods, emphasizing their welcoming culture. They had not yet discovered Iron, likely because they had need for such strong metals within their communal culture. These were not the ‘savages’ that textbooks often make Native Americans out to be, they were an advanced tribe with stronger egalitarian principles and environmental consciousness than anywhere else in the world.

Growing up, I was unaware of all of this information. Reading this article sparked a conversation with my sister about our assumptions about Christopher Columbus. We were always told that Columbus was an absolute hero, who discovered empty lands that had not existed before. The most shocking realization within this is that we were well aware of the Native Americans at this age, yet we still withheld the assumption that the lands were up for grabs. Our elementary school teachers, without knowing it, convinced their classes that Native Americans had no right to land. There was no mentioning of the fact that Columbus deceived and enslaved these people. He was not a hero in any sense. Columbus did not even achieve his goal of reaching Asia, making him far less than a great explorer. It is time for schools to teach the truth about the colonization of the America’s

Hayder’s piece on voting rights acts as an interesting foil to the Zinn piece. It also uproots classic assumptions about the “greatness” of the United States. In this case, the civil rights movement is often thought of as the start of African American equality within the US, yet this could not be further from the truth. Children learn that in the 1950’s, the U.S. government gloriously granted African Americans voting rights in an effort to achieve equality. In reality, nobody’s lives are improved in America unless they fight for it. African Americans, in this case, went through absurd hardship to gain the ballot. This ought to be recognized at a young age as to prevent kids from devaluing injustice.

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn is something that I have read quite extensively when I took AP U.S. History during my junior year. Zinn’s work as a historian has often showed us that we portray world history through rose-colored glasses. This chapter on Columbus was fascinating as it revealed the violence and brutality of the Spaniards. Columbus and his men killed many Native Americans for their ultimate goal of discovering gold. What goes unnoticed in many history textbooks is the Native American’s perspective of life. Although they were viewed to be inferior by European settlers, their civilization was much more harmonious and advanced. They achieved peace with tribes, women were respected, food was distributed to those who needed it, and more. The European’s desire for money and power destroyed many native civilizations across the Americas. The efforts of colonialism is the reason why there are so few ancestors left today. This reading made me think about the perspective in history we have when we reference oppressors or victims in a certain event. This can have a powerful impact on how marginalized groups of power are viewed centuries later.

I actually really enjoyed the Zinn reading, in that I think the chapter of that book is one everyone should read. I didn’t start learning how bad of a person Columbus was until high school, and even then all I knew was that he committed mass genocide on the native peoples. Reading a detailed account of what actually happened made me even more passionate about ending the glorification of Columbus. He wasn’t a good person, and Indigenous People’s Day should be celebrated instead of Columbus Day.

I was very struck by the way Zinn commented on how we commonly gloss over historical figures’ laws by focusing on the good things they did instead of the bad. I think the phrase “history was written by the victors” very much applies here, because I realize that I only started learning the “true” history of the world within the last five years. Historical figures that I’ve looked up to in the past have turned out to be pretty problematic. For example, I’ve always admired John Muir for his findings as a naturalist and as an early advocate for the preservation of wilderness, but it turns out he was also incredibly racist. Humans love to put things into boxes, which I think comes from our need to see things as black or white. We don’t do well with gray area. People like Columbus and Cortés undoubtedly made important discoveries, but they also committed horrible acts. I think it’s important to acknowledge that they did further human expansion, but to not give them too much credit as morally good heroes, because their discoveries did lead to the erasure of other cultures.

I know and have learned that Richmond has a long of systematic discrimination and it is something that affects and exists in the city today. I had not known about the great fears and lengths that white voters went to in order to maintain power. There were a few of these instances in the “From Intent to Extent” reading that stuck out to me. Trying to prevent the city council from having African American members is one of these. The reading explained that white members knew exactly how losing the majority advantage could change the scope of city laws and resource distribution, and for this reason they pushed for annexation and manipulation the election system. We have discussed how having and holding power affects people, and the white city of Richmond councilors lived in fear of losing this power. When they finally did, it was a “triumph” that embodied the long “protracted struggle for political parity” of African Americans

Looking further back into history, it is shocking to understand what clear crimes were considered the norm. Columbus and his crew did not even recognize natives as people. They did not hesitate to mislead, enslave and murder in the interest of power and riches. What makes the situation worse is the reluctance of history to assign blame and condemnation; instead Columbus is hailed as a hero and adventurer that we teach children about. History, in this case, seems to be on the wrong side of judgement.

I think the way that we look back on these events is extremely interesting. In hindsight, it is so easy to tell what is right versus wrong in the fight for Civil Rights. Even understanding this, it upsetting to see how long it takes for the most basic terms of political and social justice to be fulfilled, and how much more progress needs to be made. I also know that we are less socially progressive now, as Americans, than we have been in the past. In time, I can only hope that we will look back and think it was ridiculous that certain fundamental inequalities existed, but now for they are prevalent. Sometimes, as the case of Columbus seems to show, this “justice” of hindsight is never really fulfilled.

It feels like throughout my classes this semester, including with my 210 class with Dr. Coetsee, I’m always learning more of the atrocities committed by Americans, for the sake of itself and its comforts. I was appalled at the details of how indigenous people were treated by Columbus and other colonizers, it was disgusting how dehumanizing it was. Earlier this semester, at a museum trip with my 210 class, we also learned more about black slaves during the trans Atlantic slave trade. There was an old layout of how slaves were stacked and kept in like domino pieces on the ships … and it was difficult to look at.

But it doesn’t stop there! Throughout modern times, the American government has sabotaged nations in Latin America, with covert operations taking place to ensure America remains a dominant force in these nation’s economies, even if at the result of civil war and lives lost. Even very close to home, as a Bangladeshi-American, America offered weapons and money to Pakistan during our Independence War, despite Pakistan being the one to massacre Bangladeshis and our educated. Why? So that America could build a connection with China, who Pakistan was in good terms with at the time.

With all this information on our minds, how can we say that we are proud to be Americans? In our 210 class, we spoke of sentimentalism vs. cynicism in regards to our national identity. On one hand, we cannot create a fantasy of what our nation is built on and who is has served. However, if we completely become cynical and remove ourselves from our American pride, we lose all the good the community can offer us. The power we can hold as a united national community of citizens to defend each other. The balance isn’t easy, and working through these readings, it becomes harder and harder.