Columbus Day 2010 protests

Columbus Day parade makes slim showing

By Kirk MitchellDenver's Son's of Italy Columbus Day Parade scheduled to go as long as four hours, lasted barely 40 minutes, when normal traffic resumed on Broadway.

Even the group of protesters was on the smallish side and were difficult to hear across Broadway except for a few with microphones.And:Connie Truax's toy schnauzer Lacy was terrified by the cannons just before the parade started. But when it got moving she charmed the few people scattered along the parade route.

A Tom Tancredo supporter, Truax pushed a wheel chair with Lacy and a stuffed Uncle Sam aboard.What a shock to learn that a Columbus supporter is also a Tancredo supporter. Tancredo is a Tea Party favorite; he's a bigot who hates Mexicans and probably thinks Obama is a Kenyan Muslim.

Elsewhere...

Group Rejects Explorer

Protesters Rally to Dispute Columbus Day’s Misconceptions

By Matthew SchneiderMembers of the Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Indian Movement are hosting the second annual Anti-Columbus Day Demonstration Rally today to challenge the widespread belief that Columbus was the discoverer of the Americas.

The non-violent protest will take place in downtown Santa Barbara at the Dolphin Fountain at 6:30 p.m. tonight. The rally will promote the celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day, rather than Columbus Day.American Indians in San Antonio host Columbus Day protest

By KENS 5 StaffChristopher Columbus has long been celebrated, but some claim there's nothing to celebrate.

Members of the American Indian movement held signs in protest of Christopher Columbus.

It happened steps away from the statue put in place to honor the explorer.

For many Native Americans, Columbus is seen as a slave trader who helped destroy Native tribes.Native American students to demonstrate on Quad for Columbus Day

By Julia TerrusoWhen members of Native American Students at Syracuse demonstrate on the Quad Monday, their intention won't be to bash Christopher Columbus, but to tell a part of history often left out of grade school history books.

"We always learn of Columbus as being this great explorer who found the new world," said Alex Jimerson, president of NASAS and a senior public health major. "You don't get the other part of the story in terms of what he did when he got here--killing and enslaving indigenous people. I learned that side from my parents."

Jimerson, who is from the Cattaraugus Reservation, south of Buffalo, wants to use the federal holiday as an opportunity to celebrate indigenous survival and to raise awareness for threats past and present, rather than to focus on Columbus alone.Comment:  AIM Santa Barbara is also the organization that protested The Dudesons at the MTV Awards.

This sentence:For many Native Americans, Columbus is seen as a slave trader who helped destroy Native tribes.is phrased incorrectly. It implies that Columbus's slave trading was a perception rather than a fact. What the writer probably meant to say was:Columbus was a slave trader who helped destroy Native tribes. For many Native Americans, these facts are central to his historical reputation.For more on the subject, see "Sad, Hollow" Columbus Defenders, Columbus the Cannibal, and Why We Believe in Columbus.

Below:  "The American Indian Movement paints a different picture of Columbus, claiming he committed human rights offenses against the native people."