I, in order that they would be friendly to us—because I recognized that they were people who would be better Freed [from error] and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force—to some of them I gave red caps, and glass beads which they put on their chests, and Many other things of small value, in which they took So much pleasure and became so much our friends that It was a marvel.
Later they came swimming to the Ships’ launches where we were and brought us parrots And cotton thread in balls and javelins and many other Things, and they traded them to us for other things Which we gave them, such as small glass beads and Bells.
In sum, they took everything and gave of what They had very willingly.
But it seemed to me that they Were a people very poor in everything. All of them go As naked as their mothers bore them; and the Women also, although I did not see more than one quite Young girl. And all those that I saw were young people, For none did I see of more than thirty years of age.
They are well formed, with handsome bodies and Good faces . . . .
They do not carry arms nor are they Acquainted with them, because I showed them swords And they took them by the edge and through ignorance Cut themselves. . . .
They should be good and intelligent Servants, for I see that they say very quickly Everything that is said to them; and I believe that they Would become Christians very easily, for it seems to me That they have no religion.
Our Lord pleasing at The time of my departure I will take six of them from Here to Your Highnesses in order that they may learn To speak.
--Christopher Columbus Epilogue to Morning Girl By Michael Dorris
From the gentle lolloping of their caravels, to the easy gliding of oars which took their dingy over the crystalline waters of the Caribbean sea, the invaders rowed their way on to the shores inhabited by the Tainos and Arawaqs; the inhabitants, opening their hearts, offered their friendship and good will to the strange visitors who invaded their land and claimed them, in the name of God and the Crown, for the purpose of converting souls and enriching the Crown’s coffers.
Little did the unsuspecting souls who so innocently and trustingly opened their hearts and their homes to the Spanish Conquistadores, know that the cup of treason was being lifted against them as it was poised to rape and pillage their culture and their lands. ...............................
America went to bed on election night 2000, sleeping in the soft lolloping of trust in Democracy and the democratic process of elections, believing that Al Gore had been elected President of the United States, having no inkling of the cup of treason and of the Bush finger being lifted against its 200 year old Democracy and against is people in general.
Little did Americans know that, the sour disappointment shown on Poppy Bush’s face on his defeat in the 1992 election against Bill Clinton, would mimic itself on Jeb Bush’s face throughout America’s television the evening of election 2000, when the media announced Al Gore the winner of the, “year 2000 elections”, despite the Bushes best effort to keep many of Al Gore democrats from getting to the ballot boxes, or from having their votes counted through a rigged voting process, or through a concentrated effort of misinformation spouted out by Jeb’s goons at polling places which kept people from getting to their correct voting places, or through disappearing ballot boxes, or strong armed policemen who intimidated voters in Duval County, and elsewhere in Florida, from approaching the poling places, or through the elimination of thousands of voters from the Florida voting rolls, or through the infamous secretary of state, Katherine Harris, who, hurriedly certified an incomplete count of, and therefore, tilted-in-favor-of Bush, Florida votes, or through an army of soft spoken bandit-lawyers connected to the Bush hydra who stood before the Supreme Court, arguing on behalf of George W. Bush before the Court’s own Judge Bandits that George Bush was the winner of Florida’s electoral votes. Nor did Americans dream that they would wake up to a long nightmare of George W. Bush’s finger on America and of Bush’s lifting of the cup of muddy betrayal against American Democracy and the American people.
Such a journey filled with fog, spin, lies, and betrayal brought us, not a new day dawning, but a long journey through a very dark night into America’s nightmare.
George W. Bush’s Finger on America, like a Christopher Columbus waiting for his pray, broke the vessel of trust with which Americans approached their electoral process, enraged most, shocked some, and lulled others into furthering Bush’s game of deceit, rhetoric and platitudes.
A game which, like the oars of the Spanish Conquistadores defiling the pristine the Caribbean Sea, defiled and contaminated the American voting process, raped American innocence, and sat Bush, against a majority of the popular vote, in the oval office, from where he continues to sack American Democracy and rape American innocence while making, or attempting to make himself, ever so more powerful each day.
The sad truth of what George W. Bush has done, and is doing to America through lies, spin and manipulation, is beginning to dawn across the land like a new day dawning, and while he works to hold himself firmly in power before the full awakening of voices lifted against his presidency, the number of voices questioning his administration, and wanting answers from George W. Bush and his machinery of liars, spinners, and goons, is rising.
Teresa Simon-Noble is a computer activist for peace. She is a former mental health clinician. A poet and a freelance writer. Her work has been published in several online publications.
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