Columbus Day

I discovered recently in my email a message forwarded many times over containing an article meant to provoke thoughtful discussion. The article was entitled “What is it We Should Celebrate?” by Charley Trujillo and appeared on the editorial page of the San Jose Mercury News on September 29, 1992. The editorial, being written for the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ landing, attempts to display Columbus’ coming as an invasion, including death, destruction, torture and the virtual genocide of American population. It is unfortunately true that the European presence here did virtually destroy the indigenous population. It is also true that European colonization contains a disastrous legacy of inhuman treatment and abuse. However, that’s not really the point of Columbus Day.

Columbus Day was added to our calendar primarily for Italian-Americans, who desired a day to celebrate their ethnicity and contributions to America. This is pointed out in countless fourth-grade classes and was also well-reviewed in letters to the editor of the Brown Daily Herald last year after the events of Columbus Day 2005.

Other than that, it’s important to look at the significance of Columbus Day in our American history. This isn’t something most of us like to hear, but as an immigrant population, the European ‘discovery’ of America by Columbus was crucial. It is the beginning of America as it stands today. Without this event, and the subsequent European and Christian normalization of America, there would be no opportunity for the America of today. The ends do not justify the means, but we are a country, nonetheless, which would not exist without the contributions to navigation and exploration by Christopher Columbus. Whatever his motivations, whatever his actions, Columbus’ achievement marks the beginning of the history of America, of the ‘discovery’ of this land by the ancestors of those who now inhabit it. Columbus Day ought to be remembered as such and not hijacked by other causes, legitimate or not.