October 16, 2024
Monday was Columbus Day/Indigenous People’s Day and there were plenty of opportunities to think about what this holiday is all about. For older Americans, the answer was straightforward for most of their life: it commemorated Christopher Columbus‘ discovery of America. “In 14 hundred and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” was the first historical lesson many of them learned. But then we came to understand that the “discovery”of an already inhabited land had to be something else. He was the first European to cross the Atlantic and set foot on a Caribbean Island and that’s still a very remarkable accomplishment. Even though nowadays we could have breakfast in Spain and dinner the same day in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that trip took weeks on rough seas back in the day when Columbus did it.
Of course the recognition of Indigenous People’s Day implicitly acknowledges the atrocities European colonizers committed against the Native inhabitants and Columbus, as the first and most famous one, gets most of the blame. But the connection he’s credited with making between the Old World and New would have just been made by somebody else if not Columbus, and there’s no reason to believe the same inexcusable atrocities wouldn’t have followed. Rather, I think we should honor his courage, his boldness, and the mastery of his craft: navigation. He sailed into the unknown, dealt with a crew intent on mutiny, and then made 3 more round trips between Europe and the Caribbean.
What Columbus wrought was, essentially, the trail of immigration from Europe and beyond to what became the USA. Today we’re a great country comprised of people whose ancestry links us to every other country on Earth. We’re pretty unique among nations in that respect and it’s no coincidence that we are the dominant player on the World stage. It’s also why our country still draws so many hope filled newcomers: this is the land of opportunity where they can become their best self regardless of whence they came. So many of us are immigrants or children or grandchildren of them, that the present climate of anti-immigrant politics is frankly baffling. Columbus Day reminds us of one group of them, the Italian Americans. As proud of their famous countryman as they rightfully are, we are all honored by and grateful for the valuable contributions to our country’s rich tapestry that they’ve made.
Here are a few Columbus Day sights from Monday: The Columbus Monument in Columbus Circle, the Columbus Day Parade on 5th Avenue, and street activity in Little Italy downtown. We didn’t make it to Columbus Avenue, Columbia University or Columbus Park downtown, but you get the idea.
Later on this week we’ll have a special treat for Gazette readers: a sneak peek at the new Italian American Museum on Mulberry Street. Stay tuned!
