“Dear Mason”
A Letter from Your Granddad About Truth and Fiction They Teach You in School
Dear Mason,
Congratulations! You’re going to school. Reading, writing, and ‘rithmatic, along with science and history, and maybe even a little phys ed (my favorite subject when I was your age.)
As you get started, I want to share with you a secret about school — not everything they teach you is true. You’re going to learn about America — about explorers and presidents, heroes and holidays. Some of those stories will be true. Some will not. One of the biggest lies ever told in American history is the story of Christopher Columbus and the so-called “discovery” of America.
Every October, schools across the country celebrate something called Columbus Day. You may hear teachers and classmates talk about courage, exploration, and discovery — as if one man’s voyage across the ocean was an act of greatness that gave birth to a nation. But what you won’t often hear is the truth: the Americas were not “discovered.” They were invaded.
Before Columbus, There Was Life — Vibrant and Flourishing
Long before any European ship crossed the Atlantic, the continents we now call North, Central, and South America were home to millions of people. There were complex societies, powerful kingdoms, and peaceful villages. From the Iroquois Confederacy in the north to the Aztec and Maya empires in the south, the Western Hemisphere was alive with civilization.
These people were farmers, artists, builders, traders, and philosophers. They cultivated corn, potatoes, beans, and cacao — foods that changed the world. They created governments that influenced modern democracy. They built cities aligned with the stars and kept sophisticated calendars that measured time more accurately than those of Europe.
So when Europeans said they “discovered” this land, what they really meant was that they were the first Europeans to see it. But to the people already living here — millions strong — it was home.
The Vikings Got Here First
More than five hundred years before Columbus ever set sail, a Viking named Leif Erikson, son of Erik the Red, was blown off course while sailing from Greenland. Around the year 1000 CE, he landed on the shores of what is now Newfoundland, Canada, and established a settlement called Vinland. Archeologists have found remains of Norse buildings there — proof that Europeans had reached North America long before 1492.
Erikson didn’t “discover” the continent either — he met Indigenous peoples who were already there, just as Columbus would centuries later. But the difference is this: Leif Erikson didn’t claim the land for his king or enslave the people he met. He left, and his settlement eventually disappeared into history. Columbus, on the other hand, would change the world — and not for the better.
Columbus Never Set Foot on North America
When Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492, he wasn’t looking for a “New World.” He was looking for a shortcut to the riches of Asia — spices, gold, and trade routes that would make him and his sponsors wealthy. Instead, he landed on an island in what is now the Bahamas, not in North America at all.
The people who greeted him were the Lucayans, part of a larger Indigenous culture known as the Taíno. The Taíno were generous and welcoming. They offered Columbus food and gifts. They lived in organized villages, cultivated crops, and traded goods — pottery, baskets, tools, and jewelry — throughout the Caribbean.
But to Columbus, their kindness was not a sign of friendship. It was a sign of weakness. In his own journals, he wrote that they would make “good servants.” And that is exactly what he made them.
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The Birth of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Columbus kidnapped several Lucayan men and women, forcing them onto his ships and taking them back to Spain as slaves. He promised Spain’s Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand that the islands were filled with gold and that the native people could be used for labor. When he returned, he began building settlements and demanded that every Taíno over the age of fourteen deliver a certain amount of gold each month — or face punishment by amputation, torture, or death.
When there wasn’t enough gold to steal, he began shipping Indigenous people themselves — thousands of them — across the Atlantic. This became the first stage of what grew into the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the largest forced migration in human history.
Within thirty years of Columbus’s arrival, nearly the entire Lucayan population — an estimated 40,000 people — was gone, wiped out by enslavement, violence, and disease. Their culture, language, and traditions were almost entirely erased. This was not a discovery. It was the beginning of centuries of colonial conquest and genocide.
A Legacy of Lies
If you open a school textbook, you’ll likely find Columbus described as a brave explorer who “sailed the ocean blue” and “proved the world was round.” But even that is untrue — by Columbus’s time, educated people already knew the Earth was round. What made Columbus different wasn’t his courage or curiosity. It was his willingness to do anything for wealth and fame, no matter the cost to others.
Over time, governments and historians in Europe and the United States told and retold the Columbus story as one of heroism. They celebrated him because his voyages led to European dominance in the Western Hemisphere. His story became a myth of origin — a way for colonizers to justify the taking of land and the destruction of cultures by calling it “progress.”
That’s why Columbus Day became a national holiday. It was never about truth. It was about pride — nationalistic pride built on a lie.
The Truth Lives On
But history doesn’t have to stay that way. Across the Americas, Indigenous peoples and their allies have fought to bring the truth to light. Many cities and states now celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day — to honor the cultures that survived colonization and to remember those that didn’t.
In the Caribbean, efforts continue to revive Taíno language, music, and art, keeping alive the memory of the Lucayans and others nearly lost to history. In classrooms, some teachers now teach the real story — not to shame students, but to give them the power that comes from knowing the truth.
The Lesson I Want You to Carry
Mason — and all my grandchildren — I want you to understand why I’m telling you this. You will grow up in a world where truth is often twisted by people in power — politicians, corporations, even teachers and clergy — who want you to believe what benefits them. But you have something they can’t control: your ability to question, to learn, and to think for yourselves.
Don’t accept every story you’re told just because it’s printed in a book or said by someone in authority. Ask who wrote it, and why. Ask who benefited from it, and who suffered because of it. History is not just what happened — it’s who tells the story.
When your teachers mention Columbus Day, you can respectfully let them know that you understand the fuller truth. You don’t have to celebrate a man who enslaved and killed innocent people. Instead, you can honor the real heroes — the ones who built, protected, and preserved their communities long before any European ship appeared on the horizon.
A Final Word from Your PopPop
You are the inheritors of both the mistakes and the wisdom of history. Knowing the truth doesn’t mean you have to carry guilt — it means you carry responsibility. You carry the power to be honest, to seek justice, and to show compassion where others have shown cruelty.
Columbus’s story is not just a history lesson — it’s a warning. When we ignore the truth, we lose our humanity. But when we tell the truth, we keep it alive.
So when Columbus Day comes around, don’t celebrate a conqueror. Celebrate courage — the courage to question what’s wrong, to defend what’s right, and to remember those whose voices were silenced. That’s how we build a better America — one that finally deserves to be called the land of the free.
With love and hope,
PopPop
