L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano I t i s t r u e , " M o t h e r s know best. "Christo- pher was born 1451 a n d h i s m o t h e r , Susanna, named him Christopher, meaning Christ -Bearer, Dove. Christopher was raised as a committed Catholic, observing fasts, c o n f e s s i o n s a n d c o m m u - nions. He learned his native tongue, Genoese, as well as L a t i n , C a s t i l i a n a n d P o r - tuguese. He mastered geom- etry, astronomy, cosmogra- p h y a n d , o f c o u r s e , n a v i g a t i o n . A n d h e w a s familiar with Marco Polo, A r i s t o t l e , T o c c a t e l l a a n d Ptolemy. Christopher, as other informed people, knew the Earth was round as well its approximate circumfe- rence. He knew currents, winds, navigation from the stars and all you had to do to find the Indies safely was to s a i l w e s t s o a s n o t t o b e b l o c k e d b y t h e O t t o m a n Empire. To accomplish his goal he needed ships, sailors, funds and sponsorship. He went to the court of Portugal and was turned down, his brother went to the court of E n g l a n d a n d w a s t u r n e d down. Finally, Christopher went to the Court of Spain to see Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. After seve- ral rejections from Isabella's advisors, she decided to pro- vide Columbus's adventure more for the purpose of brin- g i n g C h r i s t i a n i t y t o n e w areas, than any expectation of riches. During his treacherous ocean voyage, he encoun- tered possible mutiny, possi- ble fears of sea monsters and possible falling off of Earth. He kept his log in a way to p l e a s e t h e c r e w , s o t h e y would think they weren't too far from the coast. He gave sailors pep talks and social activities to allay their fears. The land fall was met with a new set of circumstances from the indigenous people — some were friendly, and some were hostile. The tribes were often hostile to one another and s o m e w e r e d e c i m a t e d b y their own diseases, wars and starvation. F a u l t s a b o u n d a s t o Columbus's character and governance. Columbus said of himself: "I have now rea- ched that point, that there is no man, so vile but thinks it his right to insult me. The d a y w i l l c o m e w h e n t h e world will reckon it as a vir- tue to him who has not given his consent to them abuses." That day has not come. Surely, it seemed so in 1 8 8 2 , w h e n F r a n c e s Bellamy wrote the "Pledge of Allegiance" in honor of t h e 4 0 0 t h a n n i v e r s a r y o f C o l u m b u s ' s l a n d i n g ; w e approached such a time, in 1934 when Columbus Day was declared a federal holi- day. The Columbus holiday was designed to unify us as a nation under God and the f r e e d o m s c o v e r e d i n t h e C o n s t i t u t i o n a n d B i l l o f Rights. After reaching the 500th anniversary, a fringe of our s o c i e t y w a n t s t o d e n y Columbus his relevance in our history. Are they anti Columbus because of racism, slavery, genocide, Judeo- Christian faith? The legiti- m a t e a p p r o a c h f o r t h e s e questions should come from Columbus's logs, documents, his son's diaries and writing f r o m p e o p l e o f t h e t i m e . Rewriting history to obtain a personal desire should be challenged. The indigenous people are the same race as Columbus. The unspoken truth about Christopher Columbus ROBERT J. BARBERA He believed indigenous peo- ple, even in their differences from the culture and customs he knew and was acquainted with, were like any culture or race. He found them shy, intelligent, family oriented and affectionate, generous, cooperative and, relevant to him as a man of the 15th cen- tury, amenable to practice Christianity. It has become fashionable t o d e c i m a t e C h r i s t o p h e r Columbus' character because he allowed slavery, which he did. But when discussing this, we should not lose sight of Columbus' historical con- text and coeval customs. As —rightly — reproachable and unacceptable as it may be today, we sadly know that for thousands of years slavery was an "acceptable" practice among the nations around the world. Columbus was sanctioned by Queen Isabella to enslave enemies following victorious combat. Saying this is not a justification of s l a v e r y , b u t r a t h e r a n attempt at contextualizing actions led by a different moral and ethical compass from the one we apply today. When it comes to history, o b j e c t i v i t y i s k e y , a n d acknowledging these differ- ences is paramount for a full understanding of our past. W e c a n ' t w i p e o u t a n d don't appreciate what it took to make our country prosper, and this is why, I believe, it wouldn't be right to replace or cancel Columbus Day. To eradicate history by revisionist prejudices with "identity politics," by failing to understand the historical context in which those events took place, needs to be chal- lenged in name of History, of its importance, of its com- p l e x i t y , b u t a l s o t o s h o w a p p r e c i a t i o n f o r o u r F o r e f a t h e r s . T o d e n y Columbus courage and navi- gation skills shows lack of understanding of the very meaning of courage. To tear d o w n o u r l e a d e r s , f r o m G e o r g e W a s h i n g t o n t o J e f f e r s o n a n d o t h e r s , b y applying to their actions con- temporary values and failing to understand the historical and cultural context in which t h e y o p e r a t e d m e a n s t o ignore and forget their great- ness and all they sacrificed to become the very pillars we stand on. LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Christopher Columbus, as he appearead on old 5000 lire notes (Photo: Janusz Pieńkowski/Dreamstime)

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