The real meaning of Columbus Day to Italian-Americans (opinion) By Robin Ferruggia
We live in a democracy, and in a democracy people have a right to hold a peaceful protest. It would also help those who want to get their message out to the public if their message was based in reality.
Therefore I am at a loss to understand why Native Americans feel the need to disrupt Columbus Day parades held by Italian-Americans during October, which is Italian Heritage Month.
Although Columbus’ own diaries conflict with their allegations that he was an advocate of genocide and therefore we Italian-Americans are unjustly accused of ?celebrating genocide, Native Americans continue to rage at him the way some would rage at a scapegoat created out of a need to blame someone for the bad treatment they received from others later. Native Americans have expressed a belief that the reason they suffered after losing the Indian Wars is because Columbus discovered America.
Maybe that kind of logic makes sense to them, but it sounds like superstition to me. Columbus didn’t really discover America, for one, and it was the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and what is now the southwestern United States who committed genocide and decimated the Aztec and Mayan civilizations. So, why no protest against the Spanish people in America?
Columbus was long dead by the time the Native Americans lost the Indian Wars and signed treaties with the federal government. Not all of which have been fairly honored, though the government and the courts are currently making the needed corrections so they get the lands they were entitled to by treaty.
The Italian-Americans celebrating Columbus Day were not even alive back then, and had nothing to do with the disputes between them and the federal government of the United States. Italians were still almost all in Italy.
In fact, nobody alive today was there back then and nobody alive today had any say in any of it. How is it that the people of today are responsible for the abuses suffered by Native Americans hundreds of years ago?
Italian Americans don’t celebrate Columbus Day for any of the reasons Native Americans think we do, or blame us and every other person in America for who happens to have white skin. In fact, Native Americans know darn well why we celebrate our national holiday and Italian Heritage Day, because we’ve told them time and again. We have tried to establish peaceful relations with them. But I guess their need for a scapegoat and to blame all white people for the pain they have suffered is stronger, at least for now.
Perhaps being given Indigenous Peoples Day by the federal government will help them overcome the intergenerational traumas they have suffered. I think having it on the same day as Columbus Day was a mistake, however, because it gives some people the impression that Indigenous Peoples Day cancels out Columbus Day or was established for that purpose. Of course it does not. Columbus Day will continue to be celebrated.
Why should it be cancelled out because of Indigenous Peoples Day? Columbus Day is not being celebrated for reasons related to Native Americans and their history.
There are other reasons why we celebrate it.
Immigrants from Southern Italy and Sicily who came into this country were discriminated against, lynched by the KKK, massacred, murdered, unjustly accused of crimes and treated like they were criminals, deported and told we had no right to be here. We petitioned the federal government to make Columbus Day a national holiday because Columbus was credited with discovering America, and so symbolically, the country being discovered by an Italian meant that Italians have a right to be here. In fact, that extends to any immigrant legally in this country. We all have a right to be here, and that is what we are celebrating on Columbus Day.
In fact, anyone born on American soil is a native American.
In addition, October is Italian Heritage Month, and we celebrate the many wonderful and important contributions Italian-Americans have made and continue to make to America. Columbus Day is Italian Pride Day, and we are proud to be Italian-Americans and proud to serve our country.
Many people do not understand why Italian-Americans celebrate Columbus Day and are only aware of the Native American version, which is unique to them and not shared by us.
We do not make a big production out of how we were abused because Italian-Americans do not believe that the way to overcome adversity is to blame others and identify as victims. We believe that the way to overcome adversity is to become the best we can be and encourage others to do the same.
The diaries of Columbus have been preserved and are available in a variety of formats on Amazon.com for anyone interested in first-hand historical documents.
The following are articles I found online that also help shed light on the dispute over Columbus Day and related issues. They should be enlightening to anyone interested in this subject.
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https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/507688-broken-treaties-with-native-americans-not-fixed-by-supreme-court-ruling/#:~:text=Indian%20lands%20are%20held%20in%20trust%20by%20the,first%20obtaining%20the%20secretary%20of%20the%20Interior%E2%80%99s%20approval.
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