Italian heritage at stake in Californian legislature

California passes a lot of dumb Bills. Ending Columbus Day would be one of them, argues George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times.

SACRAMENTO: The California Legislature passed nearly 1000 Bills last year. A few were important. Most were not. Many were frivolous, some dumb — a waste of politicians’ time and public money.

Governor Jerry Brown did veto 12% of the legislature’s offerings. But that’s all muck under the bridge.

There are many Bills pending again this year that the state could just do without.

The biggie: abolishing Columbus Day and replacing it with ‘‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day.’’ I know, Christopher Columbus’ ‘‘discovery’’ of this already inhabited continent led to the indefensible annihilation of Native American life that had existed for thousands of years. I’ve always been incensed about it after being brought up by a mother whose grandmother was a Cherokee toddler on the Trail of Tears. Mom revered her Native American heritage.

I’ve never been a Columbus fan, but maybe it’s time to stop picking on the guy. He was a historic explorer, after all. And some European was bound to sail here eventually and begin conquering the natives.

Most importantly, Columbus Day is now an annual occasion for Italian Americans to celebrate their heritage. I’ve witnessed that pride of culture. My children’s greatgrandfather on their mother’s side sailed to San Francisco from Columbus’ hometown of Genoa in the 1800s. Like many, he headed for the Sierra gold country.

San Francisco held one of the nation’s first Columbus Day parades in 1869, which began calling itself the Italian

Heritage Parade in the 1990s. That city has produced some great Italian Americans, including Amadeo Peter

Giannini. He founded the Bank of Italy — later renamed the Bank of America — and revolutionised banking by lending to working stiffs. He helped finance the rise of California agriculture, Hollywood’s movie industry and the Golden Gate Bridge.

But recently, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to scrub Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous

Peoples’ Day. So did Los Angeles city council members and county supervisors. In San Francisco, however, there was so much blowback that the politicians backtracked and now are contemplating a joint Italian AmericanIndigenous Peoples’ Day.

State Senator Democrat Henry Stern has introduced a Bill, SB 1490, to scuttle California’s Columbus Day and rename it Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

‘‘I’m getting heat,’’ he acknowledged. ‘‘It’s a robust conversation.’’ He’s thinking about amending the measure to give Italian Americans a cultural heritage day, but not naming it after Columbus.

‘‘There are great Italian Americans throughout history but Columbus is not one of them,’’ he told me. Stern says Columbus brought ‘‘systematic rape, slavery, torture and exploitation’’ to the ‘‘New World.’’ That’s disputed by scholars who insist Columbus tried to keep his crew under control.

Anyway, there’s plenty of blame to go around for butchering Native Americans. President Andrew Jackson’s face is on the $20 note, but he’s the blowhard racist who ordered my ancestors out of the Great Smoky Mountains.

‘‘It’s ironic that when our legislature does everything it can to celebrate immigrant rights, it’s about to get rid of a holiday that celebrates [Italian] immigrant rights,’’ says Democratic consultant Steve Maviglio, who has been lobbying against Stern’s bill pro bono.

‘‘In the 1880s, more Italians came to California than to New York because they felt more welcomed here.’’ It’s also ironic that originally the loudest opponent of Columbus Day was the Ku Klux Klan, because Italians are Catholic.

California actually already has an annual Native American Day. It was authorised by then Governor Ronald Reagan in 1968 and is observed on the fourth Friday in September.

So what’s this really about? For one thing, many California tribes have grown rich off gambling and are major political players.