When Taino Indians saved Christopher Columbus from certain death  Oct. 12, 1492, what occured next was neither beautiful nor heroic.  His diaries indicated he was greeted with the most generous hospitality he had ever known, yet he immediately began the encomienda system tying Indian slaves to their stolen lands, and was personally responsible for their slaughter.
               Despite his murderous nature, his discovery came to symbolize certain civilized truths.  Manifest Destiny justified theft.  Assimilation or genocide was a reasonable choice for pagans.  A successful violent campaign to destroy Nations validated the superiority of European values and institutions.
             You can not "discover" a hemisphere inhabited by 100 million people, yet  Columbus Day perpetuates the myth that the "New World" was a wilderness with a few savages awaiting the blessings of  civilization.  Hardly mentioned is the fact that the Western Hemisphere was a virtual paradise of ecology and health, that Indians provided the model for U.S. constitutional government, that Native agricultural advances currently provide 60 percent of the world's daily diet, and hundreds of medical and medicinal techniques are still used.
            Today Indian people remain at the bottom of every socio-economic indicator,  are under continuing physical and economic attack, and are afforded the least access to political or legal redress.  Despite this we refuse to ride off  into a romantic sunset.
          Offically proclaimed in 1971, this divisive holiday should be replaced by a celebration that is more reflective of the rich heritage of the Americas.  Until then, Indians of  North America, (including Mexica and descendant Africans), should be reminded that the wicked heart of Manifest Destiny still beats around the world.   In the countries of Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Chile- Indians still die daily at the hands of those, who in their quest for personal power and wealth, keep greed the one true lasting Institution of Progress.