Talk:Christopher Columbus
The Left Hates Christopher Columbus. Here are Five Reasons Why We Should Still Celebrate Columbus Day
Most of us can remember the day when Americans still seemed to like Christopher Columbus. Yet in the past few decades, something has changed. Certain states and localities have moved away from celebrating Christopher Columbus, and now celebrate Indigenous People’s Day.
According to a recent poll, 79% of college students support such a change. And the D.C. City Council recently approved a measure to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous People’s Day. Ironically, the District of Columbia is named after, you guessed it, Christopher Columbus. The Left’s hatred of Columbus is predicated on the idea that he represents the tyrannical, western force that colonized the Americas at the expense of those already living here.
But in reality, Christopher Columbus is an American hero, and he should remain as such. Here are five reasons we should still celebrate Columbus Day.
1. Columbus Personified the American Spirit
Columbus was a brilliant man in his own right. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes him as a “master navigator and admiral.” He sailed to numerous places beginning his career as a merchant marine. He sailed to Iceland and Ireland in 1477, and to Madeira in 1478. “Between 1482 and 1485 Columbus traded along the Guinea and Gold coasts of tropical West Africa and made at least one voyage to Elmina, Ghana.” After all of this, he made four transatlantic voyages to the ‘new world’ beginning with his first famed voyage in 1492.
Americans, for all our faults, love adventure. From early colonial exploration, to our push westward with manifest destiny, to our more modern quest to outer space and landing on the moon, Americans seem to have an innate desire to push the boundaries and discover new places. This began with the spirit of Christopher Columbus.
2. Columbus Undertook Adventure for God and Country
After Columbus returned to Spain from his first voyage to the Americas in 1493, he wrote this in his letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella: “They manifest the greatest affection towards all of us, exchanging valuable things for trifles, content with the very least thing or nothing at all. . . . I gave them many beautiful and pleasing things, which I had brought with me, for no return whatever, in order to win their affection, and that they might become Christians and inclined to love our King and Queen and Princes and all the people of Spain.”
Columbus usually treated the Native Americans kindly and brought them gifts in order to win their favor. He brought with him a letter from King Ferdinand to the Taino-Arawak Indians. The king wrote, “We in his name will receive you with love and charity, respecting your freedom and that of your wives and sons and your rights of possession and we shall not compel you to baptism unless you, informed of the truth, wish to convert to our holy Catholic faith.”
Columbus’s drive for exploration was religious. Jarrett Stepman writes at The Daily Signal, “While Columbus, and certainly his Spanish benefactors, had an interest in the goods and gold he could return from what they thought would be Asia, the explorer’s primary motivation was religious.”
3. If Columbus is Off Limits to Celebrate, so are Indigenous Peoples
The main reason some Leftists don’t want to celebrate Christopher Columbus is because his actions supposedly led to the genocide of Native American peoples. Yet, what is rarely discussed is the barbaric genocide perpetrated by Native American tribes from Mexico to Peru against other Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans.
Jarrett Stepman also writes in his book The War on History, “What is never explained is why so-called indigenous peoples are worthy of celebration if Columbus is not. Pre-Columbian civilizations from Mexico to Peru were nearly all responsible for brutal violence on a large scale long before Columbus arrived on the shores of the New World – including human sacrifices, even of children, sometimes by tearing out the victim’s still-beating heart.”
Even the Iroquoian peoples, located in present Northeast United States, often took slaves of other tribes. Yet, despite all the gruesome sacrifice and slavery, some still wish to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day. Not if we can’t celebrate Christopher Columbus.
4. Columbus Is Innocent of Most of the Charges Against Him
Christopher Columbus was not perfect, but he is innocent of most of his alleged crimes. Indeed, “Columbus was mostly benign in his interaction with native populations. While deprivations did occur, Columbus was quick to punish those under his command who committed unjust acts against local populations… Columbus did not engage in the savage acts that have been pinned on him.”
In addition, “Columbus strictly told the crew not to do things like maraud, or rape, and instead to treat the native people with respect. There are many examples in his writings where he gave instructions to this effect. Most of the time when injustices occurred, Columbus wasn’t even there. There were terrible diseases that got communicated to the natives, but he can’t be blamed for that.”
5. Historical Figures Should Be Viewed in Light of Their Greatest Achievements, Not Their Worst Mistakes
Lastly, I would contend that historical figures should be honored by their great achievements, and not their mistakes or weaknesses. We should honor George Washington, the ‘Indispensable man’, for his military bravado and skilled leadership as our first president, even though he owned slaves. Likewise, Thomas Jefferson, also a slave owner, should be remembered for writing one of the most brilliant documents in the history of mankind, the Declaration of Independence, which contributed greatly to the ending of slavery and segregation in the United States.
If we cannot honor anyone in human history that did not have flaws or imperfections, we cannot honor anyone at all. Though flawed, Columbus was a great man with an adventurous spirit, sailing the seas to prepare to establish a ‘new world.’ In short, today is Christopher Columbus Day, and we should all celebrate that.
Christopher Columbus and Fake History
Christopher Columbus and Fake History
Once the target of anti-Catholic sentiment, Columbus is often slandered by those who misrepresent his legacy
by Gerald Korson 9/1/2017
An 1846 painting depicts Christopher Columbus and members of his crew on a beach in the West Indies after arriving on his flagship Santa Maria Oct. 12, 1492. The work was commissioned by the U.S. Congress and installed in the Capitol Rotunda in 1847. An 1846 painting depicts Christopher Columbus and members of his crew on a beach in the West Indies after arriving on his flagship Santa Maria Oct. 12, 1492. The work was commissioned by the U.S. Congress and installed in the Capitol Rotunda in 1847. Landing of Columbus, 1846, by John Vanderlyn
Driven in large part by political correctness and partisan academics and activists, it has become fashionable in recent years to criticize Christopher Columbus and the holiday named in his honor. A closer look, however, reveals the famed explorer to be a man of faith and courage, not a monster.
Many of Columbus’ modern critics rely on a warped and politicized reading of history, and it is not the first time the explorer has endured such attacks. When a resurgence of anti-Catholic bigotry erupted in early 20th-century America, Columbus was a favorite target then as well.
Despite animus among some groups today, the majority of Americans view the explorer positively and with pride. In a K of C-Marist poll from December 2016, 62 percent of Americans expressed a favorable opinion of the explorer and 55 percent said they were in favor of Columbus Day, the holiday named for him. By contrast, fewer than 3 in 10 view Columbus unfavorably and only 37 percent oppose the holiday named for him.
Nonetheless, there have been political efforts to strip Columbus of honor, and the question of whether to continue to recognize Columbus Day is under review in many places. Some states and municipalities have removed the explorer’s name from the holiday or eliminated the observance entirely. A COURAGEOUS JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY
Unfair attacks on Columbus, past and present, should not be allowed to obscure the truth about the man, his voyage and his motives. Born in Genoa, Italy, Columbus was a deeply Catholic explorer who was willing to go against the grain. He believed he could reach the shores of Asia by sailing a mere 3,000 miles west across the Atlantic. Such a passage would establish faster and easier trade routes than were possible through overland travel or by sailing south and east around Africa.
Scholars of his day calculated the distance to the Orient across the Atlantic at well over 7,000 miles, out of practical range for ships of the day. Those who were skeptical of the admiral’s proposal did not hold that the earth was flat, as popular myth has suggested, but rather that it was much larger than Columbus believed. Despite his miscalculation, after 10 weeks Columbus did indeed find land — not the outskirts of the Orient, as he went to his grave believing, but an entirely new continent.
Later, as a nation began to coalesce out of the American colonies, its leaders recognized the admiral’s legacy. “Columbia” served as an informal name for what would become the United States of America. The eventual designation of the nation’s capital reflects the esteem the founders had for the Genoese explorer.
Beginning in the 1840s, waves of European immigrants swelled the ranks of Catholics in the United States, and along with that came an increasingly anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant backlash from the Protestant majority. Catholics were subject to discrimination, slander, ridicule, anti-Catholic propaganda and sometimes mob violence.
It was within this hostile climate that Father Michael J. McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882. He and the founding Knights chose as the Order’s patron Christopher Columbus — one of the few Catholics considered a hero of American history. Father McGivney believed the explorer represented both Catholicism and patriotism at the very root of America’s heritage, thereby symbolizing that faithful Catholics also can be solid American citizens.
A decade later, as the Order celebrated its patron on the 400th anniversary of his discovery, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed a national Columbus holiday. He called for “expressions of gratitude to Divine Providence for the devout faith of the discoverer, and for the Divine care and guidance which has directed our history and so abundantly blessed our people.”
Colorado became the first state to establish Columbus Day in 1907, and others soon followed. In 1934, with strong urging and support by the Knights, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress made Columbus Day a federal holiday, mandating its first annual observance on Oct. 12, 1937. Statue of Christopher Columbus, dedicated by Italian-American residents in New Haven, Conn This statue of Christopher Columbus, dedicated by Italian-American residents in New Haven, Conn., was erected in 1892 in Wooster Square Park. In 2004, restoration of the statue was partially funded by the Knights of Columbus. ATTACKS OLD AND NEW
As the 1992 quincentenary of Columbus’ arrival in the New World approached, vocal opposition to Columbus was heard from partisan and revisionist historians and activists who were often critical of Western civilization as a whole. That year, the city of Berkeley, Calif., changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, and several other municipalities have made similar moves, often explicitly as a means of dishonoring Columbus.
In response to one such initiative in Baltimore, Eugene F. Rivers III, founder and president of the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies, published an op-ed article Dec. 2, 2016.
“To celebrate one cultural group does not require that we denigrate another,” he wrote. “Rather than renaming Columbus Day, why not add another holiday, Indigenous Peoples Day, to Baltimore’s calendar in honor of Native Americans?”
The 20th century ended with criticism of Columbus and Columbus Day in certain quarters, just as the early 20th century had seen similar opposition.
When the Ku Klux Klan was revived in 1915 and targeted Catholics, Jews and minority groups whom they considered a threat to the nation’s “Native, White, Protestant” identity, one of their targets was Columbus.
The Klan opposed the observance of Columbus Day, trying to suppress celebrations of the holiday at the state level. Klan members published articles calling Columbus Day a “papal fraud” and even burned a cross at a Knights of Columbus observance in Pennsylvania.
Today, one can still hear echoes of anti-Catholic prejudice in the modern attacks. For some, Columbus’ sponsorship by Spain and introduction of Christianity and Western culture to the lands he discovered make him immediately suspect. The new wave of anti-Columbus attacks go so far as to say that Columbus intended nothing good.
“These criticisms primarily charge Columbus with perpetrating acts of genocide, slavery, ‘ecocide,’ and oppression,” explained Robert Royal, president of the Faith and Reason Institute and author of 1492 and All That: Political Manipulations of History (1992).
Nonetheless, a closer examination of the record reveals a different picture.
“The dominant picture holds him responsible for everything that went wrong in the New World,” wrote Carol Delaney, a former professor at Stanford and Brown universities, in her book Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem (2011). In her opinion, “we must consider his world and how the cultural and religious beliefs of his time colored the way he thought and acted.”
In a 2012 Columbia interview, Delaney further explained that Columbus found the native peoples to be “very intelligent” and his relations with them “tended to be benign.” He gave strict instructions to the settlers to “treat the native people with respect,” though some of his men rebelled and disobeyed his orders, particularly during his long absences, Delaney added.
Columbus’ voyage made the Old and New Worlds aware of each other for the first time, eventually leading to the founding of new countries in the Western Hemisphere. Diseases inadvertently carried to the New World by the Europeans caused the greatest number of casualties by far, killing some 90 percent of native populations according to some estimates.
“There were terrible diseases that got communicated to the natives,” Delaney said, “but he can’t be blamed for that.” A RENEWED DEFENSE
According to Royal, arguments against Columbus by modern critics often constitute a “new, contemporary form of the ‘Black Legend’” — anti-Spanish propaganda dating back to the 16th-century that stereotypes Spanish explorers as uniquely cruel and abusive.
The writings of Bartolomé de las Casas — a 16th-century Spanish Dominican priest, historian and missionary — exposing the abuse of the native peoples are often cited in an effort to impugn Columbus. But while de las Casas lamented the suffering of indigenous people, he also admired and respected Columbus for his “sweetness and benignity” of character, his deep faith and his accomplishments.
“He was the first to open the doors to the ocean sea, where he entered the remote lands and kingdoms which until then had not known our Savior, Jesus Christ, and his blessed name,” de las Casas wrote in his History of the Indies. While cognizant that Columbus was human and made mistakes, de las Casas never doubted the explorer’s good intentions, writing: “Truly, I would not dare blame the admiral’s intentions, for I knew him well and I know his intentions are good.”
According to Delaney, Columbus “fervently believed it was the duty of every Christian to try to save the souls of non- Christians,” and it was this passion that “led him on a great adventure, an encounter such as the world has never seen.”
Not surprisingly, popes since the late 19th century have praised Columbus’ mission of evangelization. Pope John Paul II, while celebrating Mass at a Columbus monument in the Dominican Republic near the 1992 quincentenary, said the crossshaped memorial “means to symbolize the cross of Christ planted in this land in 1492.”
In a speech to the young people of Genoa in May, Pope Francis talked about how a disciple of Christ needs the “virtue of a navigator,” and he pointed to the example of Columbus who faced “a great challenge” and showed “courage,” a trait he indicated was essential to becoming a “good missionary.”
As it did a century ago, the Order is defending Columbus today. When Colorado lawmakers weighed a bill to repeal Columbus Day as a state holiday earlier this year, the Knights of Columbus helped lead the opposition. Recalling the Klan’s earlier efforts to oppose Columbus Day, the K of C noted that the measure was not a progressive step but rather “regressive as it takes us back to what the Klan outlined in the 1920s in order to promote ethnic and religious resentment.”
The Knights of Columbus has defended its patron from unfair attacks, urging that he continue to receive official recognition as a man of faith and bravery. Columbus represents the kind of heroic courage and religious faith that inspired the establishment of the United States. Although he surely holds special meaning for Catholics and for Italian Americans, Columbus is a figure all citizens of the New World can celebrate.
For this reason, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said in his annual report this year, “We will continue to defend the truth about Columbus and Columbus Day.”
GERALD KORSON writes from Fort Wayne, Ind.
