CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS REMAINS
AMERICA’S MUCH-DEBATED HERO
A version of the following essay first appeared on this blog back in 2017. I present it again in honor of Columbus Day…
When I was a kid I always knew when Columbus Day was approaching. October 12 was also my mother’s birthday, and with my mom there was no forgetting that.
For some years now, an annual round of protests and critical statements have helped to build anticipation of the day on which we honor the great Genoese adventurer. Some communities have adopted an alternative celebration: Indigenous People’s Day.
This is meant to commemorate — or rather, to mourn? — that fabled moment, half a millennium ago, when Europe’s conquest of the Western Hemisphere began.