Columbus Day

This weekend, I covered a Columbus Day celebration for Hearst's Stamford Advocate. I very much had the history of colonization and the destruction of the indigenous peoples' cultures that followed Christopher Columbus' voyages to North and South America on my mind before I went to the event. But even before I had to ask one question on this point, the folks I interviewed at the event brought it up that they'd like to separate the celebration of Italian-American culture from the celebration of Columbus. Here's a passage from my story:

"Celebrating Italian-American heritage is not the same thing as celebrating all things about Christopher Columbus, more than one person said. At the same time as Christopher Columbus is celebrated as the preeminent Italian in history for leading voyages that led to Europeans learning of the Americas, that history is very controversial now, Mickela Mallozzi said.

'You have the whole history of Columbus enslaving the people of the islands and forcing Catholicism on them and raping their women,' Mallozzi said. 'It comes to this whole point of, where is the balance of celebrating our Italian culture when people aren't wanting to revere this person?'

The Rev. Martin deMayo, who read up on the history of Columbus in preparation for the festivities Sunday, said that in one instance, Columbus brought back American Indians in chains to the royal court of Spain.

Spanish Queen Isabella, a 'very strong-willed, upright woman, said to Columbus, `Who gave my admiral permission to treat my subjects this way?' deMayo recounted.

While that was not a shining moment for Columbus and he had strong desire for wealth, Columbus also was a man of faith, deMayo said."

The full piece is here: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Italian-Americans-celebrat...