Walking across the park on this hot, balmy day in July October, I encountered a parade full of floats and dancers as I attempted to cross Fifth Avenue. People were banging on instruments and waving to a slightly sizable crowd on this second Monday of the month. For most of the country, it is a day off for banks and schools, but here in New York (and a few other East Coast cities) it is a chance to celebrate Christopher Columbus.
The New York Magazine pondered the holiday today and came up with some interesting ideas. My favorite part had to be about the glimpse into the truth about the man who thought he reached the Indies by sailing the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.
One could argue that it is because Christopher Columbus not only didn't really discover America but was, you know, a syphilis-riddled dick who, with his buddies, decimated the Native American population.
Really, that was what he was all about. He didn't "discover" America, it was sitting right here for eons. Many other explorers had been here before him as well, from Amerigo Vespucci to the Vikings hundreds of years before. So why does Columbus get all the fame?
Maybe because the names of his ships rhyme and the textbook people thought that was cute? Or maybe Italian-Americans wanted a claim to fame besides the Mafia and the cuisine? Maybe it was a way for the United States to further marginalize Native Americans and piss them off some more by celebrating a day that symbolizes the death of their dominance over the continent. All I know is that I hated waiting to cross Fifth Avenue as the self-involved New Yorker that I am.
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