Letter: Columbus was brutal, not deserving of holiday

Letter: Columbus was brutal, not deserving of holiday



Publication Date: 10/11/06


Editor: It's not OK to officially honor Christopher Columbus, Ponce de Leon or Pedro Menendez, unless one considers massive theft of land, slavery, brutality, physical and cultural genocide to be acceptable!

The Spanish "discovery" of La Florida, the "flowery land" in 1513 by Juan Ponce de Leon, wasn't an act of genius. Lucayan (Taino) natives from the Bahamas were quite familiar with the Florida coast, a land they called "Cautio." Ponce wasn't just looking for the fabled "Fountain of Youth," although there was an interest in curative waters spoken of by the Caribbean-Taino because syphilis was raging in the Spanish colonies.

Ponce's greatest interest in Florida was in acquiring gold and Calusa Indian slaves destined for a life of servitude and misery in West Indies Plantations.

Earlier, Ponce had played a leading role in brutalizing and enslaving the Taino (Arawak) people of Hispaniola, along with Christopher Columbus, following Columbus' return voyage to Hispaniola in 1493. Even Ponce's dog, Becerrillo, got in on the slaughter. Becerrillo achieved "fame" in the Indies as a slayer of Arawak men, women and children and was paid a soldier's wages in stolen gold.

Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded the settlement of St. Augustine in September, 1565 next to the Timucuan town of Seloy. Now, the city is disgracefully rushing to allow a developer to cover and build-over this magnificent, historic Timucuan site. How shameful and disrespectful of local history!

If the city continues to cover up these important indigenous sites, perhaps city leaders feel they won't have to start to explain the murder and theft required to invade and conquer them or reveal the extensive cultural contributions of these First-Nation peoples.

While not the bloodthirsty-butchers that Columbus and Ponce were, Menendez imposed forced labor and cultural genocide (Encomienda) on the Timucua.

According to Jerald T. Milanich, curator in archeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, "One cannot forget that the mission system was part of an insidious colonial empire, an empire that ultimately destroyed the very people the Franciscans sought to save."

Menendez murdered in the "name of god" -- the Calusa leader Carlos II and 20 of his principal men, and Kiskiack Indians at Chesapeake Bay -- predominantly for resisting coercive attempts to convert them to Spanish-Catholicism.

Menendez also slaughtered 245 surrendered French Huguenots at the infamous Matanzas "massacre" Inlet after telling them "he was bound to pursue them with a fire and blood war to extermination," for the "crime" of being Protestant ñ not Catholic.

Menendez also ordered the execution of a gay, French-Lutheran interpreter of the Guale tribal language, because he was "a Sodomite and a Lutheran" ñ in what's likely the first documented anti-gay, hate crime in North America! Gays were respected and honored by most historic, Indigenous societies.

There's no good reason to continue to honor historic-terrorists ñ Columbus, Ponce and Menendez ñ to the exclusion of honorable, historic figures. Why not honor the best ñ instead of the worst ñ of any culture? St. Augustine could begin to interpret its history in an honest, respectful and inclusive manner that honors a diverse cultural heritage that is the real America.

Continuing to officially-honor historic Spanish murderers, thieves, homophobes and slavers is disgraceful and presents pathetic role models for our children in the present.

David Thundershield Queen

St. Augustine



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