Defacing statues inappropriate way to make a point

History is written by the victors, and so it is that we are brought up learning mainly one viewpoint of events. The view of the vanquished is silenced.

The telling of history ought to include multiple viewpoints, which gets closer to reality. This may mean “heroes” become humans with faults, some with grave faults. “Villains” become defenders.

But a fuller interpretation of history is not achieved by defacing public property.

Statues of Christopher Columbus in four Connecticut cities were vandalized over the weekend in protest of the veneration of the explorer who is celebrated on Columbus Day, this year Oct. 9.

Coordinated efforts by a far-left militant group, authorities suspect, led to the pouring of red paint over Columbus statues in Bridgeport, New Haven and Middletown, and Fake News stenciled onto the base of a statue in Norwalk.

The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement, affiliated with a broader “antifa” network, had urged members to deface Columbus statues in protest of his legacy of imperialism.

Public protest is an American virtue; vandalizing property in the dark of night is not.

The merit of statues to commemorate former “heroes” has been in the forefront of American consciousness in recent times with the removal of statues of Confederate generals in the South, triggering protests and counterprotests. Discussions still rage, and rightly so, about the appropriateness of giving tribute to those who fought to keep people enslaved versus ignoring the history of the South and the Civil War. Statues of generals such as Robert E. Lee can go in museums where they are put in historical context, not kept in a public park where they are given hero status.

The debate has broadened to include the appropriateness of naming buildings for oppressors. Yale University last month changed Calhoun College, named for John C. Calhoun, a vice president and architect of the Civil War, to Hopper College, for Rear Adm. Grace Hopper who was a computer pioneer. This followed student protests over the Calhoun name and the smashing of a stained glass window depicting slaves.

We do not condone the destruction of property to make a point, whether it is cutting the Confederate flag off the hat of a patron at a Bethel coffee house, breaking stained glass windows in New Haven or throwing red paint on public statues. Express opinion through constructive ways.

History is complicated. A majority of people are here partly because of Christopher Columbus. Questioning his role in genocide after he “discovered” an inhabited land is not, however, a slight to the achievements of Italian-Americans, nor should it be seen as such.

It is appropriate — and necessary — to re-examine the telling of history through many perspectives to reach a greater truth.

Today, Oct. 12, marks the 525th anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing in the Americas. Reflect, if you will, on the daring feat of crossing the Atlantic Ocean, on the terrible decimation of the indigenous people and on the lasting consequences.