Columbus Day 2021

Today the United States (still) celebrates Columbus Day as a national holiday. On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the New World.

Some history about Columbus Day:

A U.S. national holiday since 1937, Columbus Day commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. The Italian-born explorer … intended to chart a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia; instead, he landed in the Bahamas …

The first Columbus Day celebration took place in 1792, when New York‘s Columbian Order–better known as Tammany Hall–held an event to commemorate the historic landing’s 300th anniversary. …

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Columbus Day a national holiday …

Columbus Day remains a national holiday. But for how long?

Joe Biden has issued a competing proclamation, naming (renaming?) Columbus Day as “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” His proclamation begins:

Since time immemorial, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians have built vibrant and diverse cultures — safeguarding land, language, spirit, knowledge, and tradition across the generations.

Why can’t the “indigenous people” have their own day, Joe? Why must they share with Columbus?

In any case, Ole Joe needs to get his history and identities straight. Is his proclamation meant to honor all “indigenous people” of the United States and its territories? If so, then he’s left out some groups, such as the Samoans and Chamorros.

Or is it intended to honor only “indigenous people” of what are now U.S. states, leaving out territories?

Whoops!

The “woke” who wrote this proclamation for Joe must not have considered such nuances. Would these omissions be microaggressions or macroaggressions?

Let’s consider the fact that nobody knows exactly who were the actual indigenous people of what’s now the USA, because all of these people, from various ethnic groups, from various races, from various parts of the old world, arrived at various times over tens of thousands of years. Some even arrived after the Vikings landed on the east coast of this continent and only a few hundred years before Columbus arrived in the “NewWorld.”

If we define “indigenous” as meaning first, then many if not most of the groups identified as “indigenous” arrived after the actual indigenous people, whoever they were.

Technically speaking, we are all immigrants to this hemisphere.

Inconvenient truth.

Also technically, Columbus never met up with any of the “indigenous peoples” that Biden is honoring with his proclamation. Columbus visited various places in the Bahamas, West Indies, Cuba, Central America, Jamaica, but not what’s now the USA.

Biden’s proclamation excludes the very people, the Taino, for whom the arrival of Columbus was a death knell. The Taino lived in Puerto Rico, which is territory of the United States.

Whoops, again!

While Joe’s apologizing and honoring,  we must wonder whether, in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Kamala Harris will take this opportunity to apologize for her own ancestors who held slaves in Jamaica, some of whom were of mixed African and “indigenous” ancestry. She is at least arguably where she is today based upon the privilege she derived from being a descendant of plantation owners who became rich on the backs of “Creole” slave labor, according to her father.

It’s ironic that Joe is honoring “indigenous people around the world,” in which case he’s honoring many of us, who may (also) descend from the First Nation of Europe: the indigenous Neanderthals.

Why, thank you, Joe! Please do remember that you have now proclaimed your “respect for the human rights” of Europe’s indigenous, since you’ve been so busy stepping all over our human rights with your mandates.

Is this proclamation of Biden’s meant to further divide Americans, forcing them to choose which holiday to celebrate? In other words, to choose up sides?

Knowing Biden and his ilk, this is most likely his intent. He’s no uniter; in fact, he’s the Divider in Chief.

Will leftist activists “celebrate” today by defacing what monuments remain to honor Columbus, if any have survived the rampages of the ignorant-but-woke?

Oddly enough, as some here in the U.S. denigrate Columbus and his achievements, many Hispanic nations, among others, honor Columbus and celebrate the anniversary of his arrival in the New World:

The landing is celebrated as … “Día de la Raza” (“Day of the Race”) in many countries in Latin America, as “Día de la Hispanidad” and “Fiesta Nacional” in Spain, where it is also the religious festivity of la Virgen del Pilar, as Día de las Américas (Day of the Americas) in Belize and Uruguay, as Día del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural (Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity) in Argentina, and as Giornata Nazionale di Cristoforo Colombo or Festa Nazionale di Cristoforo Colombo in Italy and in the Little Italys around the world.

Those nations seem to have a much more enlightened attitude towards the meaning of cultural diversity and “race,” in that they honor and are proud of all the various cultures and races that fused over the centuries to create what they call “la Raza” or their Hispanic identity. Anyway …

Enjoy your Columbus Day!

Oh, yeah, and remember:

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