Columbus, yay or nay?

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

Today is Columbus Day here in the U.S. It was actually 531 years ago today, that Christopher Columbus “discovered” America.

You’ll note the quotes there because, of course, there were approximately 10 million indigenous people already living in the New World when Columbus and crew arrived, and yes, the Vikings actually beat Columbus to North America by about 400 years too, even though we don’t really know much about their adventures here. But I still don’t mind using the word “discovered,” because it was indeed a great discovery and it kicked off the most important exchange of people, products and ideas the world has ever seen.

Growing up, we all studied Columbus and the rest of the European explorers who charted the New World and created a truly global economy and society. We all learned that poem… or at least the part that goes, “In fourteen hundren and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” I even won a bicycle in a writing contest about “Famous Nerds in History” (sponsored by Nerds candy), writing about Columbus, so clearly he was an important fellow.

See VIEWPOINT, page A6 VIEWPOINT

From page A4

In recent years, however, there has been a push against promoting Columbus in a positive light. Mostly, it centers on the devastation the arrival of Europeans had on the Native American population, and that is certainly undeniable, just as it is undeniable that many of the United States’ founding fathers rose to wealth and prominence thanks largely to slave labor.

These are things that happened, but I don’t think that they automatically diminish or disqualify the accomplisments of these people.

The first time I was introduced to the idea that Columbus was a villain was in college. In my Intro to U.S.

History class, we were given a document titled “With the Royal Banner Unfurled.” It was a letter Columbus had written to Queen Isabella of Spain detailing the first days after his arrival in America.

We were asked to read the letter and decide whether Columbus was or was not using the letter as a self-glorifying piece of propaganda.

It was pretty clear from the way the assignment was being presented to us that we were, of course, supposed to say that it was. As much as I scoff at the idea that colleges are liberal havens looking to “indoctrinate” our youth, that assignment always makes me thing, at least a little, “well…”

And in case you’re wondering, I did not agree.

Sure, the letter itself was a nice little laundry list of all the great things Columbus had done, but it’s worth noting that he and his small crew sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in uncharted waters and found two continents previously unknown to contemporary Europeans. It was an amazing accomplishment and like the expression says, “If you can do it, it ain’t bragging.”

A few years ago, I learned that Columbus Day is a much bigger deal in the Catholic community and in the Italian American population, like St. Patrick’s Day for the Irish or Cinco de Mayo for Mexicans or Juneteenth for the Black community. In places like Boston, there are parades and feasts and such. Around here, all we really get is closed banks and no mail service.

There’s been a push at various levels to even do away with Columbus Day or change it to Indigenous Peoples Day (which is already a thing. It was this past Monday and no one really noticed). That seems a little like pandering, but whatever.

Either way, you can’t deny it… if Columbus had not set sailed in 1492 with the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, America as we know it would not exist. Holiday worthy? I guess that’s your choice…