Oh, for pity's sake …
'In Seattle, where the measure passed the city council unanimously, some Italian-Americans are arguing the decision to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same day as Columbus Day denigrates the accomplishments of their culture. “We empathize with the death and destruction of the Native Americans,” activist Ralph Fascitelli said Thursday during a news conference. “But we think right now this is almost going too far in terms of political correctness.”'
1. I am Italian-American. I don't identify with Columbus as nationalistic inspiration or a cultural hero. Nor do I really understand how renaming the holiday "denigrates the accomplishments of [Italian-American] culture." (Do we need to maintain a catalog of Italian-American accomplishers in US history? Really?)
2. I'm often leery of slap-dash labeling of things as "political correctness," as it seems as often to be a way to shut down conversation as making a considered argument about what accommodation to make to changing sensitivities, particularly about minorities.
In this case, I'd ask Mr Fascetti that if you acknowledge the "the death and destruction of the Native Americans" associated with the European invasion of the New World, but don't think that justifies changing the name of the holiday from the person who both initiated and exemplified that history — what would it take? When would it not be something you would label "political correctness"?
Originally shared by +Alan Williamson:
Is ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day’ a long-overdue change, or political correctness run amok?
As Seattle’s mayor signs a measure adopting Indigenous People’s Day into law Monday, some Italian-Americans in the city says the new law denigrates their culture’s accomplishments.
When one considers that the Italian in question performed his services on behalf of the Spanish royal government, the whole "accomplishments" thing is even further muddied.
You mean the word "mercenary" John? It's a fair description.
More a matter of who he got to sponsor and fund the mission he wanted to go on for his own aggrandizement. He tried the courts of Portugal, Genoa, Venice, and even England before he got an agreement from the Spanish crowns.
I like the way that Dave Barry described it in his 1988 fake history of the United States. (Bear in mind that he wrote this in 1988.) According to Barry, Columbus received his funding from the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Imelda, the latter of whom funded the journey by selling thousands of pairs of shoes.