"You can't be more off-course than one-half of a world."
Russell Means’ quote regarding Columbus Day didn’t surprise me. My own visceral reaction to the remark did.
Generally, I soak up iconoclastic remarks about American heroes. More important, I support American Indian rights. I donate to the Native American Rights Fund, believe strongly in American Indian sovereignty, and even support Indian gaming.
I am also the grandchild of Italian-American immigrants. Each year the controversy between American Indians and Italian-American communities over Columbus Day celebrations tugs me in two directions.
I am no apologist for Columbus or the atrocities he committed, but the parades aren’t so much about Columbus or what he did, as what he symbolizes to the Italian-American community.
The “white” population of the US descends from a variety of ethnicities, and just about every group arriving after the Pilgrims endured a period of poverty, ridicule and contempt before taking their place within the dominant culture. Columbus Day celebrations started in Colorado during just such a period for Italian-Americans.
True, the white––well not quite brown––skin of my southern European ancestors allowed eventual admittance to the middle classes, but, in this age of political correctness, it may surprise some to know that the sixties and seventies––my formative years––were the heyday of the ethnic joke––the brunt of which were almost always the Poles or the Italians.
Even my college professors portrayed Italians as lovers; not fighters, or worse, ignorant and incompetent. The buffoonish image overshadowed names like Guglielmo Marconi and Enrico Fermi or Hemingway tales of Italian bravery in WWI.
Means’ remark was just another Italian joke, from someone who should be more sensitive to the psychological effects of negative imagery.
I realize that American Indians in Denver offered a compromise involving an Italian Pride parade without mention of Columbus. Reneging on that agreement was not my peoples’ finest hour, but showing pride does not mean having respect.
Columbus serves as the ultimate “gotcha” against all those Mayflower descendents claiming superiority based on their earlier arrival. An Italian arrived first and discovered that “New World” where the Pilgrims landed.
American Indians deserve a national holiday honoring their heroes. Native American Heritage Month deserves as much attention as Black History Month. I’ll support a Crazy Horse or Sitting Bull parade even on the anniversary of the Little Bighorn, but allow us Columbus.
Columbus Day isn’t against American Indians; it’s for Italian-Americans.
