Monday afternoon started as a pretty cool day. I woke up late, went to my only class of the day and then went to the Memorial Union with some friends to eat lunch. We had some pizza, caught up on things that happened during the weekend and then left.
As we reached the doors to exit, I noticed a crowd of people standing around outside. We went out the door and some kid ran up to me shouting angrily in my face, “You’re living on stolen land!” It happened so quickly that at first I thought it was funny. Crazy people are funny sometimes.
But then as we walked farther away from the building, more and more people kept yelling in my face, holding posters with the words “Columbus Day” crossed out and “Supporting Columbus Day Is Supporting Genocide.”
I was born in New York and my entire family is Italian, so I was automatically raised with Columbus Day being an important holiday. The whole protest thing really just made me mad.
People give the holiday a lot of crap because the common claim is Christopher Columbus discovered America, which he didn’t.
But as historian Martin Dugard stated, “Columbus’ claim to fame isn’t that he got there first, it’s that he stayed.”
But after even thinking for a while, it isn’t necessarily that I hated the protestors’ message, I just hated the fact that I couldn’t walk around the outside of the MU without people yelling at me for no reason.
I’m all for the First Amendment. Freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, assembly; all that. Even if I don’t believe the same things someone else does, they need to have the same freedom I have to express their feelings. But when it comes to getting in peoples’ way when they’re trying to get to class and studying between classes … I have to draw the line.
I’m tired of not being able to walk past the MU without being harassed by political groups. I’m tired of not being able to walk past Hayden Library without the religious fanatics shouting that God hates me if I don’t go to church. When I’m in the middle of my school day, whether I’m studying, walking to class or eating lunch with friends, I don’t want to be harassed by people I don’t want to hear from.
It may sound unconstitutional or anti-American, but it’s time ASU decides to put a limit on how much protesting is allowed on campus. Or at least set specific times and places for these protests to happen, like somewhere in a basement. Somewhere that doesn’t interfere with my everyday learning schedule.
Happy late Columbus Day!
