Observe Columbus Day by Celebrating the Benefits of the Discovery of the New World; Honor Indigenous Peoples Separately

Happy Columbus Day. As I do every year, I explain why it is appropriate to celebrate Columbus Day, especially with a federal and state holiday. The proclamation this year by United States President Joseph Biden of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same day as Columbus Day diminishes the significance of the federal holiday commemorating the Discovery of the New World and Christopher Columbus’ accomplishments. The contributions of Native Americans would be more appropriately honored at another time. Instead of a celebration of blessings, the Columbus Day holiday is being made into a lamentation over grievances. Those blessings benefited not only the European settlers and others who came to America and their descendants, but also Native Americans. The Discovery has brought an exchange of goods, people and ideas between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. It particularly brought the ideas of equality, liberty and representative government, based upon the Judeo-Christian belief that men are created in the image of God. This belief is expressed in the American Creed in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Another major contribution to the Americas was modern science, which is based on the Judeo-Christian belief that the universe is created by a rational God and, therefore, can be understood through reason. The anniversary of the discovery on October 12, 1492 honors their discovery of the New World by Columbus, the Genoan Italian navigator working for the Spanish who had correctly theorized that there was an inhabited continent much closer to Europe than was known. Through his outstanding skills as a navigator, he was able to bridge the two hemispheres together permanently, unlike anyone before, which lifted the cover of the Atlantic Ocean that had hidden the two worlds. Therefore, Columbus accomplishment truly meets the definition of the word discover, which is “to uncover,” which does not require someone to be the first in order to be credited with a discovery. Thus it does not diminish in the slightest the presence of indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere to give proper credit to Columbus for his discovery. Both a commemoration of the accomplishments of Columbus and those of Native Americans and a period set aside for the appreciation of their heritage and the contemplation about their status can and ought to be observed, not either one or the other, as if they are mutually exclusive or in conflict, as the current politics surrounding this issue reflect. Those left-wing beliefs diminish not only Columbus’s accomplishment, but the blessings of America that they do not appreciate in order to divide groups of Americans against each other for political reasons by focusing on alleged grievances about the past, based on exaggerated or erroneous interpretations, instead of focusing on unifying and universal principles. As I have noted previously, the federal holiday of Thanksgiving is to give thanks to God for the bounty of America which was obtained through the friendship of the early European settlers with Native Americans. It would be fitting, therefore, to make November Indigenous Peoples’ Month. As Columbus’ discovery is the sine qua non for America, it is appropriate to commemorate the event and to appreciate its significance, without in any way neglecting appreciation for Indigenous Peoples.