Reasons NOT to celebrate Columbus Day?

 (Maybe it should be called Atrocity Day?)

The controversial Italian explorer became infamous because of the way he treated Indigenous people.

The explorer is said to have done the following to Indigenous people, according to the History Channel:

• Used violence and slavery
• Introduce and spread new diseases
• Attempt to convert them to Christianity

Critics of the current federal holiday point out that Columbus also committed several crimes against humanity when he reached the Western Hemisphere. Here are some examples of those atrocities, as compiled by Philadelphia Magazine:

• Columbus cut off the hands of approximately 10,000 natives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic because they failed to provide gold every three months.
• Columbus cut off the legs of native children who tried to run from them.
• He aided in sex trafficking nine and ten-year-old girls.

Sources include an article in The Montgomery Advertiser HERE.