June 12, 2020–
There are those who loathe Columbus.
They would gladly tear down his statue,
were the opportunity to present itself.
I don’t at all like what he did to the First Nations
of the Caribbean and the north coast of South America.
There are those who would erase all mention
of anyone who ever owned a slave.
They would obliterate statues and monuments,
of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe.
Locales, across the country,
would be obliged to change their names.
If it ever came to that,
I would recommend the original names
given to each place,
by the First Nations people.
I don’t at all like that people were enslaved,
or even indentured in servitude.
I think, though, that
we cannot erase our history.
I have made mistakes in my life,
some of which merely irritated
those affected, and some
which greatly discomfited
the people who were in
my life, at the time.
I will not erase myself,
I will improve, and continue.
We, as a human race.
cannot erase our past.
We can only learn from it,
and move on.
A Sagittarian Seeker 
A very meaningful and sincere piece. I love your last four lines. Bravo!
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Thank you for your kind thoughts, Eugenia.
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If we start “sanitizing” history it becomes less a historical record and more an idealized fiction. That is exactly why history books are so mute on the true actions of the US government toward the First Nations, it is why the brutality of slavery is glossed over. A sanitized history removes the violence and terror of war, the horror of genocide… If history is forgotten it will be repeated. I would hazard that if history is diluted or revised we will fall into the trap of repeating past disasters. As individuals we need to be better, as a nation we must do better.
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Both those who want to honour the sufferings of people of colour and those who believe history should be written by the “victors” are guilty of not wanting the whole truth to be told. We need to be bigger than the apologists on both sides of the fence.
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