#3


Initially, the size of Zinn's book intimidated me, but surprisingly it's quite interesting, in a "this isn't hard to comprehend, but emotionally it's quite daunting kind of way". I think with most of us being social work majors, reading items like these seem to have an extremely emotional effect on us. I know that most of us know that the America we know now was founded upon violence, but what I just read was a severe form of  It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that the English prayed upon the Arawak's when they were so hospitable and gracious to them. How could you treat people so harshly when they were so willing to help you in any way possible. It just goes to show you that greed goes beyond friendship and ideally all morals also. The English probably could have gotten just as many goods by just asking, rather than taking everything by force.
     Though I haven't relived these thoughts for a very long time I am still utterly confused about how is that we are taught that Columbus founded America when there were already people there? How do you find something, that has already been claimed by someone else? Information like this just makes me question most of the things I learn. We are only taught what other people want us to know, which is partially why it is imperative to be able to learn and teach yourself things that happen to be curious to you.
     I not trying to speak out of term, nor am I trying to offend anyone, but if I was an Indian I would be upset that we still celebrate Columbus Day. What are we celebrating; the genocide of millions of people because others wanted to accumulate their land, gold, enslave them, take land and abolish their way of life? I have to admit I've never given the idea of Columbus Day much thought, I just took it as another holiday that we all celebrated and rejoiced on. If I was Native American I would be offended by the celebration of such a holiday. Many of us know that the English and Native Americans fought, but everyone doesn't know the true history behind the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. We're just taught to memorize who sailed on them, and be able to remember them when the TAKS test came around.
    Knowing your history, can't hurt you, only helps you perception of what is real and what is fake. Though I didn't want to read this book, I can already tell that it's going to have a major impact on my realizations of the world around me.