Poem: Intelligence! Intelligence!

Cristobal Colon This is not about Italy or Spain
It is about the truth from whence they came
Before Columbus there were Native Americans
The Cherokee, Navajo, Apache all became Indian
Carib, Arawaks, Iroquois, Taino, Cheyenne and so on
Riches to Queen Isabella entangled Spanish Inquisition
Lack of judgment or insensitivity the tag was placed
Quest and ignorance almost had those people erased
Led to the bludgeon; European injustice; what an awful taste

Geographical mishap but yes winners write history
Colonization branded discovery, NOT blatant thievery!
From this we became American Indians, West Indians
Limited sailors vocabulary west to east an expansion
No humanitarian regard for tribes or cultural lifestyle
Forced adaptation, called modernization all the while
Tagged everyone else Indian - a geographical screw up
This murderer, thieving, liar and every inhumane usurper
Unless you feel the venom of victimization, it’s a prop

Make no mistake Cristobal was not the first explorer
Cheng Ho went from China to Africa and India
One ship was more than four times the Santa Maria
Sailed more than eighty five years before Christopher
Interest was spices, medicine, ivory and exotic wood
Europe’s central trade was beads, wines and wool
Admiral Cheng Ho a very tall eunuch from Yunan
Captured by China as a boy lived through tribulations
Voyages trading, battling pirates not renaming Indians

Under the guise of civilization Columbus plundered
In search of spices but their tribe's wealth captured
Human trafficking you are viciously on that version
Four voyages across the Atlantic, greed on a mission
The seed of corruption you spread and germinated
European immigrants owning what natives cultivated
Christopher exploitation and savagery how humane
For you Cristobal, Son of a bitch is too good a name
The way the word Indian spread clinging to your fame


Note: William "Bubbles" Galloway is MNI Media's Resident Spoken Word Contributor