Columbus Day: The Case for Its Celebration

Every second Monday of October, the United States commemorates the discovery of America thanks in large part to an explorer named Christopher Columbus.

On his first voyage, Columbus had three ships, The Nina, The Pinta, and the Santa Maria, and discovered the Bahamas.

Over the years, he is constantly attacked and even canceled by progressives who have little to no knowledge. He is constantly blamed for the deaths of native people during the exploration of the New World, which is grossly unfair. Europeans brought diseases that Native Americans have no immunity towards, and it wiped out a great number of them. Rather, he had great respect for the natives as many of his writings indicate.

Additionally, he pleaded with the Spanish crown and even the pope to send missionaries who were willing to learn the native language to teach them about Jesus.

He ordered his crew to build settlements and explore natural resources. When he was replaced by Francisco de Bobadilla, the new governor of the colony called for Columbus's crew to rape, attack, and even enslave the natives for hard labor like gold mining. This prompted Columbus to take action, resulting in his capture, yet he was acquitted for protecting the natives. 

The idea of Columbus was to celebrate the watershed moment when we celebrate the coming together of different worlds. In 1891, Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States, instituted the first holiday with Columbus’s namesake. Sadly, eleven Italian Americans were lynched by a mob of 10,000 just months following the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Sadly, the attacks, propaganda, and false narratives against him and his character began in the 16th Century. This was done as an attempt to punish Catholic Spain.

Columbus has done nothing wrong. What many have gotten wrong is he wanted to learn from them as they want to learn from them and help build and maintain the common good in the New World.

This carried on many of times among natives, the KKK in the 20th Century as they falsely used him as a symbol of white supremacy, and now many Marxist and Communist ideologists who want to cancel history and create their own.

The main cause of the Anti-Columbus rhetoric is a 1980 work called The People’s History of the United States by Dr. Howard Zinn. His work was seen as credible because of his distorted and inaccurate betrayal of Columbus it is legit to many.

Today, he is still a victim of the cancel culture. The time to defend him is now.

Recommended Resources

Columbus and the Crisis of the West Robert Royal, Sophia Institute Press

Courage and Conviction from the Knights of Columbus