Columbus Day Was Never Gone

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In his mad rush to resurrect every fading vestige of racism in America, Trump has announced that he is officially bringing back Columbus Day as a holiday and will no longer recognize "Indigenous Peoples' Day."  The problems with that brash declaration are manifold.  

First, the holiday known as "Columbus Day" never went away.  It was a federal holiday, and still is a federal holiday - with or without Trump's loud assertion that he is bringing it back to life - something he does not have the power or authority to do even if the holiday had ceased to exist - which it hasn't.  President Biden officially recognized Columbus Day every year, but he also celebrated the same day as "Indigenous Peoples' Day."  Biden never declared a holiday for Indigenous Peoples, because he, like Trump, did not have the power to do so.

Only Congress can establish federal holidays, and only Congress can take them away.  Loud declarations to the contrary are just Foghorn Leghorn bullshit nonsense.  

Second, Christopher Columbus never actually set foot of the land that became the United States of America, but Trump's attempted rehabilitation of the Italian navigator seems to be implying a strong national and historical connection to Columbus.  (While he was bouncing around the Caribbean during his four voyages spreading disease and enslaving indigenous peoples, Columbus did briefly visit the large island that is today known as Puerto Rico, and it is currently a "territory" of the United States.  Trump has that in common with Columbus.  He, too, made a brief visit to Puerto Rico during his first term when he threw rolls of paper towels to some of the island's hurricane-ravaged peoples.)

But Trump, who is obviously no student of history - or at least not a very good one - fans the fires of nationalism by painting Christopher Columbus as the first European to wade ashore in what would become the good ol' USA.  There are some long-dead Vikings who would probably beg to differ, and also Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon who actually did visit Florida while Columbus was still puttering around the Caribbean.

Trump's aim, however, is not to teach anyone real history.  He is simply stirring the pot of culture wars and trying to incite racial tensions - much as he was doing during his social rehabilitation of Confederate Generals.  Regarding Columbus, Trump said:

"The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much.  They tore down his Statues (sic), and put up nothing but 'WOKE,' or even worse, nothing at all!  Well, you'll be happy to know, Christopher Columbus is going to make a major comeback.  I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it had for all the many decades before!"

Hallelujah and pass the gravy!

And as for those brown-skinned Indigenous Peoples?  Well, they will no longer be officially celebrated on Columbus Day because Trump said so.

When you have nothing to show for your first three months in office, at least nothing of a positive nature designed to improve the lives of your fellow citizens - even the poor ones - resort to the culture wars and play that race card again, and again, and again.  It will give your base something to boast about while they are standing in line waiting to pay higher prices at Walmart because of your tariffs.

If I am still upright in October and haven't been shipped off to some exotic locale like Guantanamo or El Salvador, I will apply war paint to my face, pitch a wigwam in the backyard, build a campfire, roast a chicken, or maybe a goat, and sleep out under the stars to pay homage to the true adventurers and explorers who actually "discovered" America more that 20,000 year ago.   Those brave souls, indigenous tribes of people from Asia, walked across the land bridge where the Bering Strait currently is and slowly populated what is today regarded as two continents - North and South America.  They were the forebears of today's American indigenous peoples, and their descendants were here working and worshiping the land centuries before the arrival of Columbus and his ragtag bands of despoilers.

But celebrate what you will.  It's still a free country - for most of us.

Happy holidays!