In his 1500 letter from prison (after being forcibly removed as Governor of the Viceroyalty of the Indies on Hispaniola to Doña Juana de la Torre- a friend and attendant to Queen Isabella of Spain), Christopher Columbus wrote IN HIS OWN WORDS:

“There are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand, and for all ages a good price must be paid…”

His very own words defending and justifying his rule of cruelty and its root economy directly based in the human trafficking of young Indigenous children and girls… even in his own time, his acts were seen as evil and heinous- and were in-fact the reason he was removed from rule and imprisoned by the Spanish royalty (and that’s a historically low bar of standard to have to clear- being literally the same royals responsible for the Spanish Inquisition).

So… it is with this in mind when I see so many sad and angry people taking the chance to weaponize a strategically and intentionally placed, “Happy Columbus Day,” toward and against Indigenous/ Native/Tribal people, populations and our many incredible allies while we collectively celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, it seems pretty evident that it isn’t a coincidence these are with very little question the same base and people acting as Epstein-apologist and/or deniers-excusing denying, justifying, defending or making every excuse under the Sun to keep the files (and therefore, the offenders) hidden in the dark and under shadow… given this, it is absolutely no wonder and makes perfect sense the proud claims by a current-day Administration and its supporters to be “proudly resurrecting” Columbus!!!

Yep- when you take a step back and look at it through this lens, you can see the direct through line from the 1500s right up through today and that all makes a heck of a lot of sense….

In the meantime, we proud Indigenous people will continue to gather and celebrate together in honor and recognition of the rich history and countless contributions our Muckleshoot/ Tribal/ Indigenous/ Native/ Indian people have and continue to make across this nation and right here in our bəqəlšuɫ homelands!

Donny Stevenson
Chairman, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe