The future of Columbus Day
Can a national holiday survive when detractors say it's nothing to celebrate?
A head and shoulders engraving of Christopher Columbus
(Bettmann/Corbis)
Columbus Day used to be a big deal, said Katie Powalski in the Orlando, Fla., Sentinel. In school, we used to have "a lesson on how Columbus 'discovered' America, often followed by a room party or patriotic assembly." Now kids are being taught about how Columbus' arrival was promptly followed by the extermination of native populations. "If this is the direction the next generation is going, how long can we really expect this national holiday to even exist?"
Instead of celebrating Columbus Day, said Aisha Brown in Examiner.com, maybe we should be observing Indigenous People's Day. Enslavement and disease wiped out the Taino people Columbus met on the island of Hispaniola, and when there were no longer enough Indians, the trans-Atlantic African slave trade ramped up. "Native American history is our history," so it's about time we learned more about it instead of glorifying Columbus.
"Christopher Columbus was not a villain," said Mario Taracena in the Colorado Springs Gazette. "He was a great sea admiral and a magnanimous man," and that's why we have honored his memory for so long. The people who are vilifying Columbus now are trying to blame him for everything that went wrong in the New World. But the Columbus haters are trying to score political points—they're certainly not teaching the historical truth.
No matter what you think of Columbus Day, said Staci Sturrock in the Palm Beach Post, the holiday is sinking. "The choppy seas of the recession sank at least two major Columbus Day parades this year" in Philadelphia and Baltimore, where the 119-year-old parade was said to be the country's oldest Columbus Day celebration. To stay afloat, holidays need people who celebrate them. "In that respect, Columbus Day isn't as seaworthy as it used to be."
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9 Comments
Posted by dj spellchecka, Monday, October 12, 2009, 1:20 pm taracena needs a history lesson: In 1493, when Columbus returned to the Hispaniola, he quickly implemented policies of slavery and mass extermination of the Taino population of the Caribbean. Within three years, five million were dead. source: iearn.org
Posted by Mark, Monday, October 12, 2009, 2:06 pm I think this is a great starting point. Let's get rid of Veteran's Day as well. After all, those soldiers died, but they also killed millions of people as well, so it would be a diservice to the memories of others. And Thanksgiving, not so historically accurate either, so that's one that should definitely be scrapped. Get over it people, holidays are there to honor both significant events in our history and the people that made it great. We shouldn't forget the details, but we should be adding holidays, not offing them.
Posted by DJ, Monday, October 12, 2009, 3:06 pm Columbus was a religious fanatic, genocidal loon. He was also a great explorer, visionary, and courageous seaman. Why can we not admit that in every hero there is a villain? Why must Great Men always be Super Men? We just can't deal with complexity in our historical figures, I guess.
Posted by John Gault, Monday, October 12, 2009, 3:40 pm Can we just get over it!? History isn't pretty. A lot of horrible things happened and are happening. We wouldn't exist today if it wasn't for Columbus, and we might not have as much compassion for other countries if it didn't happen. Horrible things happen in individuals lives that shape them to the person they are today and that horrible event is actually part of them. If you like that person or they like themselves, you could not remove that even and still have the same person. Get over it! Columbus did some great things too.
Posted by OverColumbo, Monday, October 12, 2009, 7:11 pm Viva Ground Hogs Day!
Posted by Nemo.N00ne, Monday, October 12, 2009, 9:04 pm To all you Columbus hater PC types, I quote Mayor Marion Berry WE WON, GET OVER IT.
Posted by Erisian, Monday, October 12, 2009, 9:23 pm History is written by the victors. This is why we celebrate Columbus Day. Revisionist history, even to set the record straight, needs 400500 years before implementation. The Knights Templar were resurrected pardon the pun about 450 years after Phillippe the Fair screwed them for personal reasons. The indigenous peoples of the New World how chauvinistic are now, about 500 years later, working to correct history.I wish you luck my friends.
Posted by SNOWinformer, Monday, October 12, 2009, 9:36 pm wasn't columbus removed from his post as governor cuz he was so bad at it?
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