The US....Giving Credit to People who Don't Deserve It

For centuries, Christopher Columbus has been revered as the one who 'discovered' America. For decades, Americans have known that Columbus has been getting false credit that he doesn't deserve, but it hasn't been until the last couple of years that people have actually begun to do something about it. As a first grader, I remember, after being taught the amazing things that Columbus did for our country, thinking that our country was forever in debt to him. My teachers made it sound like this country would not exist without him, but that could not be further from the truth.

Even today, many schools continue to feed their students lies, making them memorize songs and do projects. What they really should be doing is teaching them the truth.

Why do we continue to give credit to Columbus when we know that he was not the one that discovered America? Why do we celebrate a national holiday that was built on a lie? Why do we continue to promote and spread rumors that are not well-founded?
It is the 21st century, the US is a world power, and we claim to be a melting pot of cultures, yet discrimination and prejudice is still one of the most prevalent problems in our society today. We fail as a nation to realize the struggles that various cultures face. In the past, pop culture and movies such as "Wounded Knee" have brought attention to horrible conditions on reservations, but what many Americans are not aware of is that these conditions still exist. Today, 5.2 million Americans still live on reservations and face the horrific conditions that their ancestors experienced decades ago. Yes, we are making changes in legislation , and yes, Native Americans are given the opportunity to leave the reservation and assimilate into society. Many cities have also started renaming Columbus Day as Indigenous People's day.

Many people are also finally starting to learn more about Native American struggles through the authors who are sharing their story. One such author, Sherman Alexie, writes about how he never fit in with his tribe or his American classmates. He shows how the struggles that he faced on his reservation affected him even after he left and still have an impact on him today. He sets up a juxtaposition between him and his American classmates explaining that "there is more than one way to starve" as his classmates ate their food but forced themselves to throw it up, while he did not have food to eat even if he wanted it (Alexie 55). By demonstrating his harsh childhood to the audience, Alexie immediately garners their empathy and support. We need to realize that discrimination was not just our ancestors' problem, it is also ours. Indigenous People's Day is not the solution to the difficulties that Native Americans have endured, it is only the beginning.