Celebrating Columbus

Controversial holiday draws support, fire all across the U.S.

Today is Columbus Day, a holiday that doesn’t mean much to most Americans these days. If you work for the federal government, some but not all state governments or at one of the few businesses that mark the day, you get the day off. Students get to stay home from school. But that’s about it.

Outside of large cities such as New York with large numbers of Italian-Americans—who embrace the day as one to celebrate their national heritage, much as the Irish-American community does with St. Patrick’s Day — there are few formal observances of the holiday these days.

Most Americans pay no attention to the decline of a day that was once symbolic with American patriotism. But there are a some out there who still think it’s important. And some who think it should be abolished.

Every year when the holiday rolls around, Native American groups and allied scholars argue that Columbus wasn’t a hero at all, but a pirate whose soul aim was to loot and plunder in the name of the Spanish crown, gaining wealth and position for himself in the process. They blame him for bringing disease, slavery and brutality to this part of the world.

Besides, they say, Columbus never even set foot on what we now call the United States.

And to a great extent they’re right. But too often we try to impose contemporary moral standards on historical figures. Columbus was a man of the 15th century, not the 21st, and that was a rougher, more brutal era. He was a product of his time, not ours.

What is indisputable is that without Columbus’ journeys to this part of the world, history would not have unfolded exactly as it did. And that could well mean that the U.S. as we know it might not exist today.

He had his faults, but it took a lot of guts to make four long sea crossings. And even if he did not discover America, he laid the groundwork for the America that we know today.

These days, some states and localities have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a celebration of America’s original inhabitants. Others mark both holidays on the same day.

Our nation’s capital is the latest. After four unsuccessful attempts, this year Monday in Washington celebrates Native Americans rather than Columbus.

We think it’s a fine idea to honor Native Americans. But we don’t see why Columbus can’t be celebrated, too.

Besides, why shouldn’t Italian-Americans have their own holiday as well?