Columbus Day

Holiday that marks voyage to the new world carries a lot of baggage

Today is Columbus Day. Which, for most of us, doesn’t mean very much.

Some people will get the day off. Federal workers for the most part. Some state workers. Few in the private sector these days.

Schools are closed in most places. And if you live in a big city with a large Italian-American population, there will probably be a parade and other festivities. For the Italian-American community it’s a day to celebrate their heritage, much like the Irish and St. Patrick’s Day.

For the rest of us? Just another day.

Some folks mourn the decline of a holiday once symbolic with American patriotism. But there are others out there who say good riddance. They think it should be abolished completely and there is no reason to celebrate the arrival of Christopher Columbus and his crew to these shores.

Native American groups and allied scholars have for years argued Columbus wasn’t anyone’s idea of a hero. They consider him little better than a pirate who came 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, brutality and genocide to this part of the world. They have a point. Columbus was looking for gold and silver and he did enslave Indians and bring them back to Spain. And yes, there is pretty convincing evidence that he and his men treated the natives cruelly.

But the promise of riches was usually the motive for exploration. Columbus didn’t invent it. Long sea voyages cost money and those who put up the cash wanted a return on their investment. There is no way Columbus could have predicted a smallpox outbreak among the Indians. His men had survived an epidemic. No one at the time knew that some still carried the disease and the Indians had no immunity.

And the native population were not the totally peaceful and noble souls many would like to believe. They fought among themselves and with other tribes and had long practiced slavery before Columbus ever arrived.

Does that excuse Columbus’s actions. Obviously some would say no. 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— even if he never actually set foot on the land we call the United States—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.

Some cities have replaced Columbus Day with celebrations honoring Native Americans. It’s fine to honor the first inhabitants of these United States. But that doesn’t mean we should cast Christopher Columbus adrift to be lost in the tides of time.