By Tom Damigella, Italian American Alliance

• Discoverer of The New World has become the convenient fall guy for today’s “cancel culture”
• Villain Status based on disinformation by Howard Zinn — just 8 pages!
• All wrongs of American History blamed on this one man?!

No one can deny Columbus’ discovery of the New World had a long-term impact on the Indigenous People of North and South America. It was Columbus’s life-long mission to discover a shorter sea route to the Far East, not only for new trade, but, also, to find an unobstructed path to Jerusalem, then occupied by the Muslims. Not only was Columbus an incredible navigator who brought his crew safely to an unknown world, he was a pious Christian devoted to spreading the word of God.

It was never in this man’s heart to brutalize, rape, or, as some people have accused him of, creating purposeful genocide. Columbus was a noble man who was nothing like his portrayal as a villainous exploiter by Howard Zinn in “A People’s History of the United States.” This character assassination has unfortunately been repeated unwittingly by those who use just eight pages of Zinn’s book to teach the life and times of Columbus.

That’s right. Zinn wrote only eight pages of unmerciful lies and misinformation about Columbus to set the stage for a smear campaign against the United States. He wanted people to believe that the United States, along with the whole Western World, were nothing more than executioners of all minority people. In order to defame America, Zinn had to first defame Columbus.

Tragically, some 90 percent of the native population died of diseases brought here by explorers and settlers from Europe. The Indigenous People lacked the natural immunity to withstand such epidemics as Small Pox and Malaria. There was no intent on the part of Columbus, not to mention other explorers and settlers, to purposely inflict these diseases upon the natives. This cannot be called an act of genocide, but, rather another example of the tragedy of history. The Black Death of 1345 to 1347 was transmitted from China and eventually killed up to one third of the European population. (Sound familiar?) It was estimated that 25 million people died in a five year period! This was horrific, but should we blame China or accuse Chinese historical figures of genocide? Of course not. It was due to microbes, not people.

These facts are not meant to excuse the many broken treaties and wars against Native Americans by the United States government. Rather, my point is to bring intellectual precision to this historical discussion of Columbus.

Yes, there were atrocities committed against the Taino people, but not by Columbus. Indeed, he went so far as to ally himself with the tribes of Hispaniola against their historical enemies, the Caribs. Columbus sought only to befriend and treat the Taino fairly. He made efforts to baptize the Taino into the Christian faith to, in part, prevent their potential enslavement. He never threatened to cut off their hands or forced them to dig for gold. These are lies and myths. Columbus never owned any slaves, although at that time, human bondage was acceptable in every corner of the world. Columbus never raped or condoned the assault of Taino women. He punished his own men who rebelled against his authority to commit such felonies. This is all recorded and documented by Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish priest who lived in the 16th century and published a personal account of the Indies. Father de las Casas attributed most crimes to the conquistadors who followed Columbus to the New World.

An extensive list of scholarly sources are available today that support my viewpoint. For instance, the eight page defamation of Columbus by Howard Zinn is thoroughly disproved by such works as “Debunking Howard Zinn Fake History,” by Mary Grabar; “Columbus Hero,” by Rafael Ortiz; “Columbus and His Quest for Jerusalem” by Carol Delaney; and “Admiral of the Sea” by Samuel Morrison, just to name a few.

To solely lay the blame on Columbus for the inhumane acts, wars and conflicts to occur after his death because of mass migration, the clash of cultures and the introduction of diseases is absurd on its face and libelous in its action.

Columbus is a legitimate historical figure who helped change the world for the better. The positive contributions to humankind far outweigh the unfortunate tragedies that came with the development and discovery of the New World.

Yes, Native Americans deserve to have their day of special recognition, so we can all proudly celebrate their culture, history and heritage. They remain a significant part of the United States. Such recognition can and must be formalized, but not at the expense and insult to Italian American communities who have so proudly associated themselves with Columbus for more than 130 years.

It is unfortunate that some people do not understand the historical connection of Columbus to our grandparent’s generation who endured incredible oppression and bigotry. This emotional connection of pride to Columbus cannot be ignored if one is to truly understand why we defend Columbus against uninformed and misguided critics.

Since our nation’s founding, we have honored Columbus by naming cities, buildings and statues for his discovery of the New World. Because of Columbus, the United States has existed to do more for the betterment of all people than any society or nation in the history of the world. The world is a far better place because of America, regardless of Zinn’s poisonous telling of our country’s history.

The efforts made by those, today, who use Columbus as their scapegoat to push a political agenda is unnecessary and unwarranted.

We are all better than that. The time is now for a more sensible effort of intellectual precision to convey the greater truth of Columbus.

Editor’s Note: The author was a key leader in the successful effort to stop the most recent attempt in Massachusetts to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.

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