Indigenous People Day Poem

Today is Columbus Day in the United States.

i started writing this poem last year and the point of it is to raise awareness about the effects of Columbus travels and to ask you to reconsider calling it Indigenous People Day.

Hope you enjoy it!

en la lucha,

-rsc

Indigenous People Day Poem

by Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria

Today 518 years ago a man got lost

And found a ticket to fame

se persigno con la santa maria, la niña y la pinta

and left with god

traveled oceans

crossed timeline

towards the end of his world

lost years of human life

All to discover nothing.

landed on occupied land

and stole it

appropriated it

raped it

and called it HIS PA NIO LA

All in the name of the holy 1st world

he placed the blade on each side of their shoulders

anointed the soldiers metal

and declare holy war

treated natives as cattle

slaughtered butchered, conquered

it doesn't matter what noun you use

massacre still has the same effect.

and he continued on...

in the name of precious metal and spices

Enslaved thousands

to give them diseases

inject them with greed and rabies

expose them to a religion that

calls them

savages

murderers

ignorant

not human

and he continued on...

erased their way of life by force

enforced their ways

brick by brick

layer by layer

until their buildings replaced ours

hoping we forget

but we havent..

518 years and counting..

we have been speaking

you never chose to listen..

u gave us second class citizenship

yet you never chose to listen

you called our meeting a cultural exchange

but you never chose to listen

you gave us names because you couldnt pronounce ours

and you are still not listening

so we keep speaking

we keep asking...

Why do we build statues,

name avenues,

throw parades

for a man who got lost and discovered nothing?

-rsc