We're Friends!!!

Alright Justin we figured it out. Hopefully we are now blog friends if I did this right.

In the book, A People’s History of the United States written by Howard Zinn, the first chapter discusses Christopher Columbus and the relationship he had with the Indian people when he came over to the America’s for the first time. It talks about all the cruel things Columbus did to these Indian people that many of us are probably very unaware of, and in very gruesome detail. Zinn quotes many other authors throughout the first section of the chapter to give us more detail about what exactly Columbus did to the Arawak people. Some of these authors decided to not put all the facts in their writing and others do tell the truth, but then cover it up with more information to look as if Columbus was solely a hero. However, Zinn is only saying that these authors should tell the truths of history without covering anything up. He is not saying this because he wants to condemn Columbus and deprecate his wonderful exploration, but he just wants the truth to be told. Our country was founded upon such events like Columbus and the Indians, but we are still proud to be Americans. We learned many things from these Indian people and our country has thrived ever since. Nothing can be done about the past and what has happened, even if it is very depressing. However, we must understand the truth about what has happened. We base some of our moral fiber solely on events that have taken place in our country’s history.

I felt that this chapter of the book was very powerful and educating to read. Probably like many others, I did not know much about Christopher Columbus and his expedition. I knew that over time we did kill most of the Indians in America to claim their land, but the detail that was put into this chapter was powerful. I do agree with the author when he states that we should state the truths when it comes to the history of the U.S. Even though this is a very sad and depressing story, I am not that broken up about it. I know that is a tough thing to say, but it is true. This event was the beginning of the United States and without it we would not have this country to live in. It is a part of our history and we can not change it even though there was many other ways Columbus could have handled it. It is important to know the truth however; because that is our past and want we came from. People in this country need to know this information even of it does not change their mind about the issue.

Hello everyone, my name is Justin Cioppa and I am from Cincinnati, Ohio. I am not only in this class because I needed to take it to graduate, but I am very interested to be apart of something that I am not used to. I went to a catholic high school with all males and was not diverse at all, mostly just white men. Coming from this type of back ground, I really do not know to much about other races, cultures, gender, and many other things because I was limited to such a small group of people. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved my high school experience and I would not trade it for anything, but being in this class will give me the opportunity to talk with people that maybe have different views then I probably would towards an issue and that is what I want to accomplish throughout the semester. I just want to be able to learn what other people, not just catholic white males, think about certain issues.