Change the Name of Columbus, Ohio
The Issue
I love this city as much as the next born native BUT there is an issue with being named after Christopher Columbus.
Our state is named Ohio. Ohio is a Native American word meaning good river. How can we honor our heritage in one way and continue to defame it with our city's capital name?
Our state has a strong Native American history and after that, a strong Union state history during the civil war. We were a safe haven for escaped slaves AND we held thousands of Confederate Prisoners in central downtown. What sense does it make to have this proud history and be named after a man who terrorized the Americas?
More on Christopher Columbus: He accidentally stumbled upon the Americas backed and funded by Spain on his voyages. He never “discovered” the New World because millions of people had already vastly inhabited it. He didn't just search island and "set up camp".
He INVADED, RAIDED and PILLAGED the peoples of Central America and South America. In his OWN words, "They willingly traded everything they owned … They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features …They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron …They would make fine servants … With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
Thats not the worst of it. Chris Columbus also sent about 500 slaves to the Queen of Spain. Queen Isabella was mortified, she believed the "discovered people" were actually Spanish subjects and could not be enslaved. She disapprovingly and promptly sent the "slaves" back.
In May 1498, Columbus visited Trinidad and the South American mainland before heading back to a Hispaniola settlement during a colonist revolt against the brutality and current management by Columbus' appointed leaders. Conditions were so terrible that Spanish authorities sent a new governor to take control. Sadly, the native Taino population, forced to pan gold and work on plantations, was reduced from an estimated 250,000 to a few hundred only sixty years after Columbus landed there. Even though these weren't always rich in gold areas, Natives who didn't collect enough gold would have their hands cut off. The accusations against him across the many islands and countries he took over include rape, murder, mass genocide, slavery, cutting natives just to test the sharpness of their blades and other forms of brutality.
Christopher Columbus was hastily arrested and returned to Spain in chains.
As a union state, a blue jacket state, how can we continue to be named after and celebrate a man who is nothing more than a glorified pirate with a license to steal from natives of the Americas?
This petition is to get the conversation started so we can explore options that don't glorify the wrong people in our history.
The Issue
I love this city as much as the next born native BUT there is an issue with being named after Christopher Columbus.
Our state is named Ohio. Ohio is a Native American word meaning good river. How can we honor our heritage in one way and continue to defame it with our city's capital name?
Our state has a strong Native American history and after that, a strong Union state history during the civil war. We were a safe haven for escaped slaves AND we held thousands of Confederate Prisoners in central downtown. What sense does it make to have this proud history and be named after a man who terrorized the Americas?
More on Christopher Columbus: He accidentally stumbled upon the Americas backed and funded by Spain on his voyages. He never “discovered” the New World because millions of people had already vastly inhabited it. He didn't just search island and "set up camp".
He INVADED, RAIDED and PILLAGED the peoples of Central America and South America. In his OWN words, "They willingly traded everything they owned … They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features …They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron …They would make fine servants … With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
Thats not the worst of it. Chris Columbus also sent about 500 slaves to the Queen of Spain. Queen Isabella was mortified, she believed the "discovered people" were actually Spanish subjects and could not be enslaved. She disapprovingly and promptly sent the "slaves" back.
In May 1498, Columbus visited Trinidad and the South American mainland before heading back to a Hispaniola settlement during a colonist revolt against the brutality and current management by Columbus' appointed leaders. Conditions were so terrible that Spanish authorities sent a new governor to take control. Sadly, the native Taino population, forced to pan gold and work on plantations, was reduced from an estimated 250,000 to a few hundred only sixty years after Columbus landed there. Even though these weren't always rich in gold areas, Natives who didn't collect enough gold would have their hands cut off. The accusations against him across the many islands and countries he took over include rape, murder, mass genocide, slavery, cutting natives just to test the sharpness of their blades and other forms of brutality.
Christopher Columbus was hastily arrested and returned to Spain in chains.
As a union state, a blue jacket state, how can we continue to be named after and celebrate a man who is nothing more than a glorified pirate with a license to steal from natives of the Americas?
This petition is to get the conversation started so we can explore options that don't glorify the wrong people in our history.
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Petition created on June 8, 2020