Celebrating Columbus: Admiral of the Ocean Sea

A MAN WHO stood as a hero for five centuries has been brought down to pariah status in less than half a century. Christopher Columbus, without whom Western civilization may never have come to global prominence, is a figure deserving the praise and admiration of the ages. Yet today he is largely ignored, forgotten or shunned.

Without question, Columbus was one of the most important figures in the history of the world. The question being asked today is not whether he is important, but whether he is worthy of celebration. The answer to that is an emphatic “yes.”

Columbus’ explorations required extraordinary courage, determination, fortitude and faith. His fearless voyages of discovery — undertaken for commercial, political, scientific and personal reasons — were feats of heroism on such a gigantic scale that few before or since have done anything to rival them. Like all explorers, Columbus bravely ventured where others dared not. Unlike most others, however, Columbus, through his adventuring, changed everything. His discoveries effectively expanded the very size of the planet and required everyone to think differently about life and its possibilities. The only comparison from contemporary times would be the discovery of another inhabitable planet, or of alien life.

That others who followed Columbus brought disease and war to the New World does not diminish the magnificence of what he did. Nor does their behavior negate the good that was done afterwards in the establishment of the United States of America and the spread of Western civilization to all corners of the globe.

Those who revile Columbus are not reviling the man so much as the symbol. What Columbus symbolizes is Western civilization in all of its complexity. When we celebrate Western civilization, by celebrating Columbus, it is important to remember, and learn from, the bad and the ugly; but it is equally important to remember, and praise, the good.

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Let's celebrate an American hero

October 14, 2002

The drums will roll, the bands will strut and politicians will court the rapidly eroding ''Italian vote.'' It is Columbus Day 2002!

Mayor Michael Bloomberg invited ''The Sopranos'' sellouts Dominic Chianese and Lorraine Bracco to the New York City Columbus Day Parade. Our own Mayor Daley would never consider inviting James Gandolfini or Edie Falco to our parade. They mock their heritage and defile the memory of their heroic Italian ancestors. Mayor Daley loves Columbus Day, and always salutes the accomplishments of the great ''admiral of the Ocean Sea.''

Christopher Columbus was adopted as an ethnic hero after waves of Italian immigrants brought their blood, sweat and tears to the teeming shores of this ''sweet land of liberty.''

They found other ethnic groups honoring St. Patrick, Casimir Pulaski and von Steuben, so they needed to join the parade. Columbus is not celebrated in Italy. Only a small plaque commemorates his birth in Genoa. He was discovered in America by a needy population of penniless and powerless immigrants searching for their place in the sun. Even our nation's capital bears his name. Cities and universities proudly proclaimed to be his adopted children.

Christoforo Colombo was an authentic American hero. Then the marauders came in the night and rained lies on our parade. Charlatan historians revised, distorted and finally destroyed the well-documented legacy of Columbus.

The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans will salute ''America, To Thee I Sing'' today. Look at the list of war casualties from the Twin Towers. The melodious, beautiful names of Italian Americans are tragically prominent in the roll call of heroes: citizens, police, firemen--none of whom resemble any characters in ''The Sopranos.''

President Vito Cali and parade chairman Robert Cimo speak for the Italian-American community as they invite all Americans to celebrate and remember Columbus Day 2002. Let the healing begin.

Dominic Di Frisco, president emeritus,

Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans

Then the marauders came in the night and rained lies on our parade. Charlatan historians revised, distorted and finally destroyed the well-documented legacy of Columbus.

I can't tell from this what the "charlatan historians" got wrong. Perhaps the author can refute the charge that Columbus' men enslaved or murdered 1/3 the entire population of Taino Indians:

After he failed to contact the emperor of China, the traders of India or the merchants of Japan, Columbus decided to pay for his voyage in the one important commodity he had found in ample supply - human lives. He seized 1,200 Taino Indians from the island of Hispaniola, crammed as many onto his ships as would fit and sent them to Spain, where they were paraded naked through the streets of Seville and sold as slaves in 1495. Columbus tore children from their parents, husbands from wives. On board Columbus' slave ships, hundreds died; the sailors tossed the Indian bodies into the Atlantic.

Because Columbus captured more Indian slaves than he could transport to Spain in his small ships, he put them to work in mines and plantations which he, his family and followers created throughout the Caribbean. His marauding band hunted Indians for sport and profit - beating, raping, torturing, killing, and then using the Indian bodies as food for their hunting dogs. Within four years of Columbus' arrival on Hispaniola, his men had killed or exported one-third of the original Indian population of 300,000. Within another 50 years, the Taino people had been made extinct [editor's note: the old assumption that the Taino became extinct is now open to serious question] - the first casualties of the holocaust of American Indians. The plantation owners then turned to the American mainland and to Africa for new slaves to follow the tragic path of the Taino.

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