Tampa’s Christopher Columbus statue was covered in fake blood during a rally last Sunday. Credit: Dave Decker

Yesterday, Governor Ron DeSantis released a Columbus Day proclamation that celebrated a pedophile rapist who history says fed babies to dogs.

“Christopher Columbus displayed courage, determination, and perseverance when he sailed the ocean blue more than 500 years ago,” DeSantis wrote in his Tweet of the proclamation.

The statement spouts ridiculously inaccurate statements about Columbus, falsely claiming that he discovered America, and saying Columbus’ contributions are part of the “trail-blazing legacy of American heroes” (Columbus was Italian and never stepped foot in America).

DeSantis wrote that those who disagree are attempting to “revise history” even though he seems to be actively attempting to revise history with his own statement. He said people are trying to “defame” Columbus, despite the fact that Columbus’ own actions, which were recorded by Bartolome De Las Casas, show that Columbus was a bloodthirsty monster.

In response to DeSantis, the Florida Indigenous Alliance (FIA) released a scathing rebuttal to DeSantis’ batshit proclamation.

“The FIA in the strongest possible terms condemns and denounces the settler white nationalist Ronald DeSantis’ proclamation venerating the syphilitic infected, half a planet lost genocidal maniac,” the FIA wrote. “The fact that the racist governor of Florida cannot even get the name of his uber hero correct [Columbus real name was Cristobal Colon] shows he only idolizes Columbus because he murdered and intended genocide against the Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere.”

FIA points out that Columbus himself proudly noted the horrors he inflicted on Indigenous peoples, “With fifty men we can subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want,” Columbus wrote.

While kidnapping and selling Taino and Arawak peoples Columbus declared, "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold….We thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades”.

“This is what the vile malignant Governor of Florida celebrates, calls heroic, and asks Americans to emulate,” the FIA wrote.

The group points out that the statement is especially disgusting during a time when the genocide of Native Americans continues.

"The kind of society that issues proclamations, sets aside days and places statues to honor the mass murder of Native people is the kind of society that refuses to acknowledge the 5,200 Missing and Murdered Indigenous women," the statement reads.

The statement discusses in-depth the ongoing abuses that Indigenous people are fighting back against as they endure ongoing genocide. In regards to this struggle that they face, they point the finger again at DeSantis, saying, “The reason is people like Ron DeSantis.”

“At this time when some in the dominant society are coming to an understanding about the longest war in U.S. History—the war against Indigenous peoples—this is when Ron DeSantis issues such a repugnant proclamation,” FIA wrote. “There can be no reconciliation without accountability, no unity without justice, no peace without rectification. Respect us or expect Resistance!”

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