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History of Columbus Day holiday

Thursday, February 15 at 4:23 PM

This Speakout has not been edited

By Richard SaBell, Denver

Once again the Italian community and the celebration of Columbus Day are pestered by Glenn Morris, C.U. Denver Political Science Professor and member of AIM of Colorado. What is most annoying about Mr. Morris claims about Columbus is that not only are they untrue but more importantly that they are unsupported by documentation. As any C.U. student will tell you an undocumented, unsupported paper is sure to draw the Professor’s ire. And lest we forget Mr. Morris professorial associate and fellow Columbus defamer, Ward Churchill whose similar undocumented versions of history have been discredited.

In my history textbook (World History, Volume II: Since 1500, William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogel. Wadsworth Publishing, 1998. Pg 501) Columbus is not credited with the decimation of indigenous populations but rather the Spanish Conquistadors that followed after him. It was Queen Isabella herself who “declared the Indians to be subjects of Castile and instituted the Spanish encomienda, a system that permitted the conquering Spaniards to collect tribute from the natives and use them as laborers.” It is important to remember that Columbus was a navigator, an explorer, an adventurer. He was not in the military, not a soldier, and not in command of soldiers. Columbus may not have actually discovered America but his trans-Atlantic route and maps opened the way for future exploration in the region. His expeditions and the resulting permanent colonies were unique and significant in that they resulted in the first intertwining of Europe with the Americas. For some this leads to the false belief that Columbus is culpable for every ill that has befallen indigenous people in the interim.

Columbus Day is important to Italian Americans because it not only commemorates the arrival of Columbus in 1492, but also the arrival of over 5 million Italians a century ago, and the heritage of approximately 26 million Italian Americans currently living in the U.S. In 1907, Colorado’s Hispanic Senator, Casimiro Barela, sponsored a bill at the request of Denver resident Angelo Noce, proclaiming Columbus Day, October 12, to be a public holiday. The bill was approved April 1, 1907 making Colorado the first state to observe Columbus Day. In 1971, President Nixon declared Columbus Day a national holiday to be observed by all 50 states on the second Monday in October. On October 8, 2001, and October 14, 2002, President George W. Bush issued proclamations in recognition of Columbus Day and urged the people of the United States to reflect on the contributions of Columbus.

For the Italian American community, Columbus Day is a time to honor and celebrate our Italian ancestors that, despite extreme adversity, prejudice, and suffering upon arriving in this country, showed determination and strength to not only build successful lives for themselves and their families but also to contribute in building a strong and successful nation that honors and respects people of all nations.

READER COMMENTS

The people at AIM and other self desribed "victim" groups always love to portray Columbus as a mass murderer, slave trader, and probably worse. For a white man of the 15th century from Europe, he was no better or worse than his contemporaries. It was a brutal and violent and unforgiving period of time.
Consider what the American indiginous peoples were doing at the time though??? Were they exploring and developing new technologies? Were they building ships to sail the seas and discover far away lands and peoples? Hell no, they were warring amongst themselves, cutting the live hearts out of their conquered slaves and throwing virgins into volcanoes. My what a civilized and peaceful bunch of people they were.
Compraed to the Europeans who landed on their shores, the Americans who lived here in the 15th century were murderous barbarians of the worst kind.

Posted by Michael on February 19, 2007 01:48 PM

WHATS a matta you ??? every body know colombus discovered america....says so in all the history books..He was a stand-up guy..just ask Tony Sapprano !!!!

Posted by THE BIG CANOLE on February 17, 2007 11:47 PM

Right on, Richard. The media loves to quote the liberal side of everything and ignore printing the other side of the story. It would not fly if Morris attacked the Spanish!! After all it is another diverse group like the Indians. When in reality, we are all a diverse group. There is no such thing as a single "White group" we come from many different diverse cultures. Yet, we are grouped into one catergory and discriminated against.
If Morris really wants to place the blame, it is on the Spanish conquerers not Columbus.

Posted by duke on February 17, 2007 10:13 AM