Happy Columbus Day, America

Happy Columbus Day, America

It is Columbus Day, although my Mac calendar says it is also something called “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” What is irritating about the Mac calendar is that you can’t edit it. So you are stuck with things like Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Ashura and Eid al-Adha. So what is an “indigenous people”?  My AI says “Indigenous peoples are the original inhabitants of a region, often with distinct cultures, languages and traditions that differ from the dominant society.” This means that there are no “original” inhabitants because they are probably all extinct. There are no more hominins, no Australopithecus left, no neanderthals or Cro-Magnons. They are all gone. 

The president has weighed in on the matter and said:“Columbus, obviously, discovered the New World in 1492. He was a great Italian explorer. He sailed his three ships—the Nina, the Pinta, and Santa Maria—across the Atlantic Ocean, and landed in what’s today the Caribbean. And this is a particularly important holiday for Italian Americans who celebrate the legacy of Christopher Columbus, and the innovation and explorer zeal that he represented.”

I beg to differ. How could Columbus “obviously” discover the New World if there were already people here who were already here before his arrival on these shores? That very observation was the cause of my very first “C”. In my economic history class at the University of Georgia where I was its first black male freshman and the only black in every class I took for four years, the professor the first day asked “Who discovered America?” The students in the class (unlike the president) knew it wasn’t Christopher Columbus and were afraid to venture an answer. I – who always sat in the front row on the end seat farthest from the door – apparently had a smile on my face. The professor (who turned out to be a member of the John Birch Society) looked at my smile and literally sneered “I guess you know who discovered America.” I said “Yes, the Indians.” He said “I meant white men” and I responded “Who cares about white men?” He then refused to call on me from that point on. He put a “C” on all my papers and exams which I just knew deserved A’s. He refused to say why and when I went to his office, he kicked me out and told me never to come to his office again. He refused to acknowledge my presence in his class. I complained to the department head who said I could drop the course without penalty. I refused and told him I would not give the professor that satisfaction. He gave me that “C” which kept me off the Dean’s list that quarter. But when I returned to campus in the fall, the professor’s name was no longer on the faculty roster. I asked the department head what happened to him and was told “I did not want that SOB on my faculty.”

I know that many on the left want to purge Christopher Columbus from history. They are fools. Columbus and the explorers from his era should be celebrated. Anyone fool enough to sail into the unknown on rickety ships for months out of the sight of land must be admired. But they will persist in calling it “Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Even Investopedia, one of my favorite sites said “We’ll be taking a short break for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. We will return on Tuesday.” Shame on them. My credit union had a sign up saying that they were closed on Columbus Day celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day. Good Grief. Regardless, I highly recommend the reading of Christina Thompson’s “Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia.” It is a wonderful telling of the story of a remarkable, courageous and incredible people – indigenous or not – who in their canoes populated the Pacific. I think we should have a Polynesia Day too.

Well the president issued a proclamation that October 13^th was Columbus Day not IPD. Take that you anti-Italian left wing kooks! Here is what the president proclaimed:

“Today our Nation honors the legendary Christopher Columbus—the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth. This Columbus Day, we honor his life with reverence and gratitude, and we pledge to reclaim his extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue from the left-wing arsonists who have sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory. Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage. Before our very eyes, le”-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces. Under my leadership, those days are finally over—and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination.”

Bravo! Well said and of course Columbus Day is when Columbus discovered Ohio.