L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 30 LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers,  October, traditionally known as Italian Heritage Month, for over a quarter of a century, has been no more. Since 1992 Columbus Day has been under the attack of Native American activists, who caused it to all but disappear from school district calendars to be replaced with variations on the San Francisco Unified School District designa- tion of "Indigenous People's Day." Dear Readers, let's face it, we lost that one, but now comes word that, emboldened by over 3 5 c o n f e d e r a t e m o n u m e n t s being removed or relocated since 2015, Native American activists of San Jose, California (known as the Brown Berets) are calling for the removal or relocation (preferably to the garbage dump) of the Columbus Statue located in the City Hall building, donat- ed by the Italian Community in 1958. One Brown Beret sympa- thizer said: "The statue offends me. I have relatives who are Native American and the statue doesn't belong here after all he's done to people. He came in, k i l l e d p e o p l e a n d t o o k o v e r everything." *** S i n c e 1 9 9 2 , w e I t a l o - Americans, have taken the "sins of Columbus"stated by Native American activists as gospel truth. Few of us, including me, h a v e e v e r t a k e n t h e t i m e t o research and refute these anti- Columbus claims. Now, mille g r a z i e t o J o h n M a n c i n i , c o - founder of the Italic Institute of America (www.italic.org), for publishing a well researched l e a f l e t c a l l e d " T h e S i n s o f Columbus:" freely available to all those interested, it'll give its readers enough historical back- g r o u n d t o d e b a t e N a t i v e American activists, should they c o m e d e m a n d i n g a n o t h e r Columbus statue to be taken down. Here are some excerpts: *** THE SINS OF COLUM- BUS So much calumny has been h e a p e d o n C h r i s t o p h e r Columbus that even many who once celebrated his holiday now question his legacy. Was he a m u r d e r o u s i n v a d e r ? W a s h e really the first to discover the New World? Does he deserve a national holiday? *** I t w a s c a l l e d t h e A g e o f Exploration and it was dominat- ed by Europeans. The only other contenders were the Arabs and Chinese. Arabs traversed the Indian Ocean, exploring and set- ting up trading posts on the east- e r n s h o r e o f A f r i c a d o w n t o M a d a g a s c a r a n d a l o n g t h e Indian subcontinent. Arabs can be considered explorers in the sense that they opened trade routes contiguous to their home turf their main achievement was e s t a b l i s h i n g a m o n o p o l y o f Asian spices. The Chinese dur- ing the Ming Dynasty went to sea to show their flag rather than to secure trading and launched a 5 0 0 - s h i p f l e e t a r o u n d 1 4 2 1 manned by thousands of sailors and bureaucrats that toured the E a s t I n d i e s a n d t h e I n d i a n Ocean. *** The Portuguese, as every school child learns, led Europe in circumnavigating Africa to outflank the Arab monopoly in spices. Vasco De Gama and a h o s t o f i n t r e p i d P o r t u g u e s e showed Europeans how to create a new business model and cut o u t t h e m i d d l e m a n . I t w a s Alfonso de Albuquerque who showed Europeans how to assert power in Asia. Albuquerque's gunboat diplomacy butchered the Muslim competition and built a Portuguese empire of t r a d i n g f o r t r e s s a m o n g t h e diverse peoples of Asia. His wealthy colony at Goa, an island along the Indian coast, lasted until 1961. P o r t u g a l d i d n ' t n e e d Columbus, but Spain did. If you think Christopher Columbus was a beast among the Amerindians, c o m p a r e d t o h i s P o r t u g u e s e counterparts in Africa and Asia, he was easily a saint. *** Columbus was not a man of mystery. Enough documentation exists of his personal life, his voyages, and even his thoughts, to understand his true nature. There is no denying that his voyages brought about three things: the end of Amerindian isolation, the global mixing of r a c e s , p l a n t s , f a u n a a n d microbes, the ascendancy of European power. *** Christopher Columbus was one with the sea. His experience before 1492 included voyages down the West African coast, the Mediterranean, and the North Atlantic to Iceland. Navigation, chart-making, and leadership were only some of his skills. In the days of sail he was the mas- ter of winds, riders, stars, and currents. He spoke three lan- guages, read Latin, and was a man with a sense of mission. His c o u r a g e c a m e f r o m h i s d e e p Catholic faith and his unyielding belief in science. He was continually confront- ed by conspiracies in his ranks, b y t h e c h a l l e n g e o f d e a l i n g humanely with natives, and by countless storms at sea. He was famously shipped home in chains f o r h i s t r e a t m e n t o f S p a n i s h rebels. Exonerated, he embarked on yet another voyage, during which he and his crew were ship- wrecked on Jamaica for a year. He secured the help of natives by predicting a lunar eclipse which kept them in awe of his powers. *** The strong Italian family of Columbus was involved with the New World enterprise. H i s b r o t h e r s D i e g o (Giacomo) and Bartolomeo were essential to his voyages as they were the only men Columbus trusted to carry out his orders and remain loyal. They ruled in his absence and enforced Queen Isabel's mandate to treat indige- n o u s p e o p l e j u s t l y . I n o n e instance, Bartolomeo stopped a Taino gladiatorial game when players began killing each other. T h e b r o t h e r s f a m o u s l y h u n g seven Spaniards for treason and m i s t r e a t i n g t h e T a i n o s . Columbus's sons, Diego and F e r n a n d o , a n d h i s n e p h e w Giovanni, later carried on the Admiral's mission and defended his legacy. *** Columbus gave equal impor- tance to expanding Christianity as he did to trade. He wrote often how Tainos were a most gentle and generous people, how they could be easily converted. With this in mind, he ordered Frey Ramon Panè to learn their lan- g u a g e a n d t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e Indigenous people for the pur- pose of bringing them into the Christian fold. Columbus's contract with the S p a n i s h m o n a r c h y g a v e h i m regal powers on land and at sea. But he was always considered a foreigner among his Iberian sub- ordinates. *** Columbus opened immigra- t i o n t o t h e N e w W o r l d . B u t Columbus did not initiate the African slave trade. Others did so to develop sugar cane planta- tions. Indigenous peoples could not fend off European or African immigration any more than we can exclude modern immigration to these shores today. Every nation and every continent has endured the trauma of invasion, unwanted immigration, inter- breeding, and destruction of tra- ditional culture. Vilifying one courageous man, who was clear- l y o v e r w h e l m e d b y c i r c u m - stances, is to deny the ultimate wonder of what he accomplished for humanity. *** "...my errors have not been c o m m i t t e d w i t h m a l i c i o u s intent... I have fallen into error t h r o u g h i g n o r a n c e a n d b y force..." - C h r i s t o p h e r C o l u m b u s , 1502.

• Cover