Posted on 10/07/2004 10:45:40 AM PDT by aynrandy
Columbus Day is again upon us.
A parade. Balloons. Cops. Violence. Recrimination. Pseudo-historical ranting.
You know - fun for the kids.
A few Native Americans and the usual suspects in the Coalition of Progressives Against All Western Culture will again attempt to intimidate local Italian-Americans as they celebrate the legacy of an important, if somewhat imprecise, explorer.
Christopher Columbus is often compared to Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin. The Genoese explorer doesn't belong in any conversation that includes genocidal dictators. Quite the opposite.
But Vernon Bellecourt, the principal spokesman for the American Indian Movement, has fought against Columbus Day for decades and lent a helping hand in organizing the protests here in Denver.
By 1991, his brand of "civil disobedience" became so violent in Denver that Columbus Day parades ended for the rest of the decade. When the parade was resuscitated in 2000, police arrested 147 protesters who tried to block Denverites from celebrating a national holiday.
Through his Ministry of Information, Bellecourt sends me a press release titled "Re: Indigenous People's Opposition to Celebration and Glorification of Colonial Pirate Christopher Columbus," and it is addressed to "our Italian friends, and the Sopranos ..."
Bellecourt is out there, but surely he is aware that Tony Soprano is a fictional character. Like Tonto, the Lone Ranger's servile sidekick, an insulting stereotype.
Bellecourt says Columbus - an Italian - spurred an orgy of "murder, torture, raping, pillaging, robbery, slavery, kidnapping, and forced removal (of Indians) from their homeland."
American Indians suffered terribly under European rule. There is no argument, no excuse.
But when I mention that Native Americans weren't exactly peaceful egalitarians, collecting berries and expanding their utopia when Columbus arrived, I get a lengthy spiel on some elaborate plot by the CIA in Guatemala and "reactionaries."
Since everyone knows the CIA couldn't pull off a toddler's diaper, much less a complex coup, my reaction is to move on.
An infinitely more composed and grounded Rev. Patrick Demmer of Graham Memorial Church of God in Christ in Park Hill, is also taking part in the protests as part of a joint effort of the Greater Denver Ministerial Alliance.
"They have a great heritage; they are a great people," Demmer says of Italian-Americans. "I went to school in Mapleton with many Italians. I love the Italian people. I love the food. I love the culture. I think Italians are extremely cool. They have a lot of soul. Why they choose to embrace a slave trader and rapist is beyond me."
Pamela Wright, maiden name Ciancio, acknowledges atrocities under Spanish rule, too, but disputes the Reverend's characterization of Columbus.
Wright, who is president of the local Sons of Italy and a lifelong Denver area resident, thinks the whole thing is just sad. She's been going to the Columbus Day parades in Denver since she was a kid - excluding the decade protesters shut it down.
In recent years she's witnessed protesters brandishing signs that call Italians "Mafia scum." She's seen the streets lined with police dressed in riot gear and angry protesters yelling at her.
"I think Columbus Day is a holiday all Americans should take part in. I view it as an opportunity for Americans to stand back and look at what we have. We celebrate what he brought here. Because of his voyage, he not only changed America, he changed the world."
No one is innocent. Columbus included. Yet, to Americans who march each year, he is a courageous hero for bravely traversing the Atlantic and (sort of) discovering America.
Fortunately, he's less convincing in the role of scapegoat.
David Harsanyi's column appears Monday and Thursday. He may be reached at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com .
"He then proceded to murder thousands "
Absolute Rubbish !!! Which voyage? Your source? And please have the source connected directly to Columbus in his lifetime and not Cortez, DeSoto, et al.
"You're thinking of the wrong natives, that was over in Mexico and Peru. Columbus landed on Hispaniola, which had fairly primitive agricultural and hunter tribes."
For what it is worth, according to Columbus' personal journals, Columbus had no reason to rape and murder because he was often greeted as a 'god' when he went ashore. And, every man he left behind on his first (?) journey was murdered by the "primitive"s.
As for slavery, we are in no position to scrutinize the practice as "enlightened" people; slavery happened, it is a fact, it cannot be historically used to denigrate a persons character. (Slavery was even a practice between differing Indian tribes.)
Or getting high-end totally free medical care!
Quick, somebody name one race that hasn't, at some point in history, been enslaved by someone else.
I had to respond to your posting.
Columbus first touched ground in the Bahamas. The Carib "Indians" that Columbus later encountered in Hispaniola were surrounded by cannibalistic tribes. Although the Caribs were relatively benign, further exploration in the New World revealed many instances of the horrific native atrocities and practices I've already mentioned.
As a devout Catholic, Columbus took great efforts to proselytize the "pagan savages". Unfortunately, his program was undermined by the venality and criminality of his underlings and their unfaithfulness in adhering to the directives of the Spanish Crown. These ongoing Spanish atrocities were documented by Bartolome De Las Casas, a Catholic priest, whose accounts were, indeed, accepted by the King and Queen of Spain, who were appalled at the treatment of those who they considered their subjects. In fact, Columbus's failed attempts on subsequent trips to the New World to correct these problems resulted in his being returned to the Spanish court in chains at the command of the Spanish Crown.
Neither Columbus nor the Spanish sovereigns sanctioned the brutality that occurred during the poorly-managed attempts to proselytize the native "Indians".
In today's Middle East, we find it no easier to put down brutal medieval behaviors and practices still occurring in the Islamic world, such as beheadings, mutilations, public executions, torture, rape, mass murder, and so on. What is conveniently overlooked by those who hate Columbus is that Christianity has been fighting these elements in our world for over two thousand years, yet the twisted attitudes of today vilify the very Christian culture that has always seen these things as evil and sought to dispel them.
RE: your #18 post - totally agree!
I think the first Indians that Columbus encountered were Tainos. The Caribs were more ferocious and practiced cannibalism...in fact, our word "cannibal" comes from Carib. Giovanni da Verrazano, the explorer who found the Verrazano Narrows (at the mouth of the Hudson River) was eaten by cannibals on a later voyage to the West Indies.
Vikings, of course, we may get duped, but we do not get enslaved! (As a historian, I'm allowed to say it, even if I can't prove it, because I have a degree! On second thought, if I became a democrat I wouldn't even need a degree!)
Didn't he visit many islands on his first journey?
Didn't the Vikings enslave each other? What did they do with all the women they captured when they raided the other Viking villages?
In the battle of cultures European culture of that day beat the indian culture. No big deal. We won get over it
wining = wHining
Try reading THE DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF MEXICO by BERNAL DIAZ del CASTILLO.
All that was great about their civilization was colored by canabilism and daily human sacrifice.
The Dominican Republic has its modern name because Columbus chose the name Santo Domingo, after his father's patron saint.
Shhhh... If you burst my bubble, my ego will be hurt, my slef-esteem will deteriorate and I will, obviously, need the help a state appointed psychologist to help me out of my depression. After therapy I will actively seek to alter all the books you have ever read that could lead you to form such a gross mischaracterization of the loving, kind, gentle, tender and sweet Vikings that you have just disparaged. Now, repeat after me: Vikings enslave, they are not enslaved!
I think the Vikings tended to enslave people of the countries they raided.
***You're thinking of the wrong natives, that was over in Mexico and Peru. Columbus landed on Hispaniola, which had fairly primitive agricultural and hunter tribes. ***
Check your history. Colombus found Awarak indians being killed and eaten by the Caribe indians. He wrote of finding captive pregnant Awarak indian women kept solely because the Caribes liked fresh cooked new born babies.
Besides, if Colombus had not found the New World the Portugeese would have found it a few years later.
And if the Indians had found Europe first they would have brought all of those EU diseases home with them.
Archaeological digs in Canada have indicated that cannibalism was far more widespread in pre-European North America than most people are aware of.
I apologize for my vicious attack on your heritage, my bad.
And for the record, I like the Vikings. Moss is one of my favorite players.
The Atlanteans were never enslaved!
In all fairness, we should retain Columbus Day. But we might also consider an Aztec "Cut out a living heart" day as well, in order to honor the other American cultures of the time.
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