<div dir="ltr"><h2><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif" size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal">Good Morning Visionaries: Here is my column on this topic from last year. nfg</span></font></h2><h2 style="text-align:center"><b><span style="line-height:150%;color:black"><font face="georgia, serif" size="2">Columbus
Day and the Christian Conquest of the World<span></span></font></span></b></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="color:black"><font face="georgia, serif">Indigenous Peoples Day Should Take Its Place<span></span></font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="color:black"><font face="georgia, serif"> </font></span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in 0in 14.1pt;text-align:center;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;vertical-align:baseline"><font face="georgia, serif"><i><span style="color:black">We discovered Columbus, lost on our shores,
sick, destitute, <br clear="all">
and wrapped in rags. We nourished him to health, and the rest is history.<br clear="all">
He represents the mascot of American colonialism in the Western Hemisphere.<br clear="all">
</span></i><span style="color:black">—Lakota activist Bill Means</span><span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="color:black"><font face="georgia, serif"> May
4, 1493 was a day of infamy for the indigenous peoples of the Americas. At the
urging of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, Pope Alexander VI
confirmed their right to confiscate native peoples’ lands. <span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="color:black"><font face="georgia, serif">Even at
this point in time, the Christian conquest of the world had been well under way.
Alexander’s papal bull was a continuation of what is now called the Doctrine of
Discovery. The irony of “discovering” land where people already flourished is a
sad and tragic one.<span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="color:black"><font face="georgia, serif">In 1455
Pope Nicholas V exhorted Catholic rulers to conquer, even those “in the
remotest parts unknown to us,” all who were enemies of Christ. The Pope gave them permission “to invade,
search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens [Muslims] and pagans,”
take their possessions, and “reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.”<span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="color:black"><font face="georgia, serif">Some
priests had disputed Spain’s right of possession and they had defended the
Indians as full human persons. Pope
Nicholas acknowledged that native Americans were innocent, peace loving people,
and they greeted Columbus and his men warmly. But after they rescued them from
shipwrecked Santa Maria, the Spaniards mistreated them in the most inhumane
ways. <span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"><span style="color:black">One man </span><strong><span lang="EN" style="">Bartolome de las Casas</span></strong><span lang="EN" style="line-height:150%"> </span><span style="color:black">Priests provided detailed accounts of acts of
wanton brutality. The natives were enslaved and worked to death. They were hunted down with dogs, strung up,
and burned alive. The Taino tribe was
reduced from an estimated one million to just 500 in ten years. It was
Christian terrorism pure and simple.<span></span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="color:black"><font face="georgia, serif">North America’s
native population also came under the Doctrine of Discovery. In 1823 Chief
Justice John Marshall concluded that the U. S. had derived its right of “dominion”
from Great Britain as the nation who “discovered” and settled “unoccupied”
land. <span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="color:black"><font face="georgia, serif">As a
result, America’s “heathen” natives had lost “their rights to complete
sovereignty” and must live as dependent nations within the U.S. The sad story of oppression, massacres, and
broken treaties is well known and need not be retold here. <span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><font face="georgia, serif"><span style="color:black">Major
Christian denominations have denounced the Doctrine of Discovery, but the
Vatican has yet to revoke the papal bulls.</span> In November 2013 the nuns from Denver’s
Loretto Community sent a letter to Pope Francis requesting that he address this
issue. The sisters praised him and two
previous popes for supporting the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. Francis has also offered forgiveness for “crimes committed against the
native peoples during the so-called conquest of America.”<span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><font face="georgia, serif"> The Loretto sisters have received no
response, except from the U. S. Conference of Bishops who thanked them for sending
them a copy of the letter. In 2007 Archbishop Celestino Migliore did respond to
an earlier inquiry. He wrote that subsequent papal bulls had forbidden the
enslavement of Indians and there was “no need to take further action.” Sister
Libby Comeaux of the Loretto Community has called this response “fancy footwork
in canon law.”<span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><font face="georgia, serif">Over the past six decades, six states
have taken the lead in honoring America’s indigenous peoples. In 1968 Governor
Ronald Reagan signed a resolution making American Indian Day a state holiday in
California. It is held on the fourth Friday of September. <span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><font face="georgia, serif">Tennessee also celebrates American
Indian Day, but on the fourth Monday of September. Last month, on the same day,
Nevada celebrated the holiday for the first time.<span></span></font></span></p>
<p style="margin:6pt 0in;text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><font face="georgia, serif"><span style="color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">In 1990, under pressure from Indian activists, South Dakota
was first state to substitute Native American Day for Columbus Day. In October </span><span style="color:black">2015 Alaska followed suit by renaming Columbus Day
“Indigenous Peoples' Day.” <span></span></span></font></p>
<p style="margin:6pt 0in;text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="color:black"><font face="georgia, serif">On
October 10, 2016, recognizing that “the Green Mountain State was founded and
built upon lands first inhabited by indigenous people,” Vermont Governor Peter
Shumlin proclaimed that the second Monday in October would now be celebrated as
Indigenous People's Day.<span></span></font></span></p>
<p style="margin:6pt 0in;text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><font face="georgia, serif"><span style="color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">In 1992, the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley,_California" title="Berkeley, California"><span style="color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;text-decoration-line:none">Berkeley</span></a><span style="color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">, California City Council, was the first
city to substitute Indigenous Peoples’ Day for Columbus Day, and since then 31
cities have done the same. (Four schools and universities have followed suit.) Phoenix,
Arizona has been the largest city to acknowledge that Columbus should not be
honored for his genocidal attacks on America’s natives.<span></span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><font face="georgia, serif">It is high time for Congress to declare
the second Monday in October a national holiday honoring America’s native people.
Columbus and his fellow terrorists should be relegated to the trash heap of
history.<span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"><span style="color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Nick Gier taught philosophy and religion
at the University of Idaho for 31 years.</span><span style="color:black"><span></span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="color:black"><font face="georgia, serif"> </font></span></p></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 10:09 AM, Linda Pall <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:lpall@moscow.com" target="_blank">lpall@moscow.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr" text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="FONT-SIZE:12pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Calibri';COLOR:#000000">
<div>Dear Visionaries,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Long overdue. Check out Stan Freeberg’s History of the United
States... maybe Tom can find this and share it over V2020! </div>
<div> </div>
<div>All the best,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Linda Pall</div>
<div style="FONT-SIZE:small;TEXT-DECORATION:none;FONT-FAMILY:"Calibri";FONT-WEIGHT:normal;COLOR:#000000;FONT-STYLE:normal;DISPLAY:inline">
<div style="FONT:10pt tahoma">
<div> </div>
<div style="BACKGROUND:#f5f5f5">
<div><b>From:</b> <a title="Debismith@moscow.com">Debi
Smith</a> </div>
<div><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, September 27, 2017 6:05 PM</div>
<div><b>To:</b> <a title="moscowcares@moscow.com">Moscow Cares</a> ; <a title="vision2020@moscow.com">Moscow Vision 2020</a> </div>
<div><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Vision2020] Indigenous People's Day
Petition</div></div></div>
<div> </div></div>
<div style="FONT-SIZE:small;TEXT-DECORATION:none;FONT-FAMILY:"Calibri";FONT-WEIGHT:normal;COLOR:#000000;FONT-STYLE:normal;DISPLAY:inline"><div><div class="h5">
<p>Done!!</p>
<p>Debi R-S<br></p><br>
<div class="m_-1668257799215170553moz-cite-prefix">On 9/27/2017 4:29 PM, Moscow Cares wrote:<br></div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div><span>Moscow residents, please sign the petition supporting Moscow
changing Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day.</span></div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1zaLE0YliXz9H-oBgoDPphRGWWA0cpxNcC20YCSgSuAz3nQ/viewform" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/forms/<wbr>d/e/1FAIpQLSf1zaLE0YliXz9H-<wbr>oBgoDPphRGWWA0cpxNcC20YCSgSuAz<wbr>3nQ/viewform</a><br><br>
<div>
<div><span>Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div>
<div><span><br></span></div>
<div><span>"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants
on)</span></div>
<div><a><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div>
<div><span> </span></div>
<div>
<div><span>Tom Hansen</span></div>
<div><span>Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div>
<div> </div></div></div></blockquote><br>
</div></div><p>
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==============================<wbr>=========================<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div> <div style="height:auto;width:auto"> <div> <div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10pt"><div><span style="font-size:13.3333330154419px">A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. </span><br style="font-size:13.3333330154419px"><br style="font-size:13.3333330154419px"><span style="font-size:13.3333330154419px">-Greek proverb</span></div><div><br>
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not
in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it
without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your
own understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.<br>
<br>
--Immanuel Kant<br>
<br><br></div></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</div>