"When a dominant society tells its story, it's called history. When native peoples and other marginalized sectors of society give their side of the story, it's called revisionism," says Bobby Gonzalez, a Taino/Puerto Rican historian whose visit to Michigan Tech is part of the Cinco de Mayo weeklong celebration sponsored by Educational Opportunity/Latino/Hispanic Outreach. Gonzalez will be the speaker at Tech Tea Time on Wednesday, May 3 at 4:00 p.m. in the MTU Memorial Union Alumni Lounge. The program is free and is open to all.
Gonzalez' topic, The Legacy of Columbus: 500 Years of Racism and Resistance, is an overview of American history from a native perspective. It is a very different story from the one that appears in American history textbooks. For a number of years doubt has been cast on that accepted view of America's history, and research has found much that has been proven wrong or unverifiable. Historians debate as to whether trade and exploration were the real purpose of Columbus' voyages to the "New World," or whether his intent was to conquer and exploit? What were the reasons for the decimation of almost entire populations of natives by infection with diseases they had no resistance to, such as smallpox and viral hepatitis? Was their lack of immunity exploited by the visitors to their land who gave them blankets infected with the diseases? Were the men of the U.S. cavalry heroes or villains in the wars on the plains and in the Southwest?
In what he terms "the American Holocaust," Gonzalez traces the physical, cultural and spiritual tragedies of native peoples in the Americas. Starting with Columbus and ending with the current problems in Chiapas, Mexico, and the threatened mass suicide by the Uwa Indians in Colombia who are in jeopardy of losing their land to oil exploration, he tells a tale that is only just beginning to appear in the history books and only very occasionally on Headline News.
Bobby Gonzalez lectures extensively throughout the U.S. He is the author of the book The Puerto Rican Indian Wars II, and he writes a monthly column for the Latino Village Press. He is also an accomplished storyteller and poet.
This Tech Tea Time is presented by Educational Opportunity and Hispanic/Latino Outreach, which are sponsoring Gonzalez' visit to Michigan Tech, in conjunction with the University Cultural Enrichment Department. For further information about other Cinco de Mayo activities call 487-2920.
04/25/00