Marjorie Taylor Greene has outdone herself (at least for now) with a new social media post that completely ignores Indigenous People’s Day in favor of the much more controversial Columbus Day.
The far-right politician and Donald Trump loyalist took a break from ranting about space lasers and the government controlling the weather to deliver a celebratory message on Oct. 14, a day increasingly becoming known as Indigenous People’s Day.
“Christopher Columbus paved the way for the American spirit of exploration and freedom,” Greene wrote on X. “Never forget America’s history! Happy Columbus Day!!”. The post was accompanied by a graphic celebrating Columbus Day and an official seal with Greene’s name — a type of approval that no one wanted or asked for.
Greene’s mention of Columbus is particularly eyebrow-raising given the increasing move away from celebrating the explorer and towards acknowledging the atrocities he committed upon arriving in the Americas. This move has focussed more on the Native American history and culture which existed long before Columbus’ arrival, but all that seems to be lost on Greene.
Naturally, it wasn’t long before critics flocked to Greene’s post to share their disapproval. One user simply negated her mention of Columbus altogether by simply writing “Happy Indigenous People’s Day”, while another posed a question to all Republicans who support Greene. “Honestly, how does this potato not embarrass you?”, the user quipped.
Elsewhere, users reminded Greene of the horrors of colonialism that began with Columbus’ arrival, and tried to reiterate that, though it might shatter Greene’s ideals of the “American Dream”, Columbus “didn’t discover anything.”
Along the same line, another critic said Indigenous people are “the original Americans” and that “everyone else who came later was an immigrant,” a comment which surely would’ve sent Greene (who has had some choice words about immigrants) into a tailspin.
Others were more cutting in reminding Greene of America before Columbus, calling her a “dumb ass” and confirming “there were people here before Columbus got here. He didn’t find anything that wasn’t lost.”
“History often glosses over the impact of colonization,” another user wrote, “we must confront these truths.”
Thankfully, not all politicians share Greene’s commitment to using the outdated term for the second Monday of October. In 2023, President Joe Biden acknowledged Indigenous People’s Day at the federal level through proclamation, saying the day was to “honor the perseverance and courage of Indigenous peoples.”
Meanwhile, in the past three years, about 216 cities have renamed Columbus Day or replaced it with Indigenous People’s Day, showing just how behind Greene is. I guess we should expect this kind of backwards thinking from the person who peddled the conspiracy theory about Jewish space lasers, and who just this month said confidently that the Democrats were controlling the weather in the wake of Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene.
Oh, she also said the government was behind the attempted assassination of Trump, and that his survival was a Christian miracle. Yeah, on second thought, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised Greene is celebrating Columbus Day, since she’s always been a little divorced from reality.
Published: Oct 15, 2024 03:26 am