Last October, I began a series of monthly
posts dealing with ethnicity and immigration, focusing as always on my subject
towns along Pennsylvania’s lower Schuylkill River. I drew comparisons between attitudes toward
immigrants now—largely Hispanic—and similar views about Italians, their
predecessors as the most suspect immigrant minority in the U.S. In February, I acknowledged that much of my
inspiration came from my mentor and friend, Hank Cisco, the Ambassador of
Norristown. Hank is a proud
Italian-American, with a long record of support for efforts to commemorate
Norristown’s Italian heritage.
This post is again inspired by Hank,
who sent a group email with a link to an article in the Italian American
Herald.com, entitled “Columbus Being Pushed out of the Picture in America?” This fits right in what what I have been
writing about. He asked for feedback,
and here is mine, late though it is.
Keep in mind that what I have already written about ethnicity—and that’s
a sizeable, and growing, amount—and what I shall write, in this post and
forthcoming ones, derives from my perhaps unusual perspective. As I have written before [6/26/15], I view
and comment on ethnicity from the position of an outsider. I possess no ethnicity, for a combination of
circumstances, but my primary emotion from that is one of regret. I am sure this will lead to my thinking along
different lines for this subject.
The Italian American Herald is dedicated to preserving the Italian
heritage in America. The essence of the
article’s argument is that, in its own words, “Part of preserving is protecting and slowly there is erupting a
movement to abolish Columbus Day, a holiday near and dear to Italian Americans.”
The statement’s phraseology demonstrates, but does not take into account
the uniquely bifurcated nature of Columbus Day.
I can think of no other federal holiday that has been celebrated for
such different reasons for so long. It
is a federal holiday, and has been since 1937.
The public holiday has always celebrated the beginning of the European
cultural influence in the Western Hemisphere.
Yet it is also very personal, “near and dear to Italian Americans,” who
celebrate it in their communities and organizations for the fact that Columbus
was Italian. The article itself links
the public and the personal view of Columbus, implying that opposition to
Columbus Day demeans Italian culture.
First, some background information about federal holidays. To begin with, the fact that a date is a
federal holiday does not actually mean a great deal. Technically, such recognition applies only to
federal employees and federal property.
The federal government is prohibited by the Constitution from requiring
any state to observe a federal holiday.
This leaves it up to the individual state to decide. For Italians, the ability to opt out is where
the problem comes in, because a few states have chosen not to celebrate the
event, or at least not as regards Columbus.
Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, South Dakota and Vermont do not observe Columbus Day, but for reasons that vary widely. South Dakota and Vermont recognize “Native American
Day” and "Indigenous Peoples Day" as a direct alternative to Columbus Day.
Alaska’s reasoning seems to be that the date falls too close to Alaska
Day. Hawaii
cannot be said to have any meaningful connection to Columbus at all, so its recognition
of “Discovers Day” might be interpreted as being more inclusive than it seems. In addition, a few
municipalities have themselves abolished Columbus Day observances, following the lead of The Peoples Republic of Berkeley, California.
Now to the nub of the argument: Are
efforts to disestablish Columbus Day directly—or indirectly—an attack on
America’s Italian heritage?
Here is where my status as an outsider comes into play. I have always been aware of the public nature
of Columbus Day; in my upbringing, Columbus Day was for celebrating one’s
“Americanness,” and I can recall no emphasis at all on the Italian aspect. The fact that the Spanish had an Italian show
them the way to the new world was just one of those interesting little factoids
of history. Columbus Day was all about
the civilizing mission of Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. Columbus was purely a symbol; his being
Italian had virtually nothing to do with it.
The public message celebrating the spread of western civilization runs
closely parallel to the personal message that celebrates Columbus being Italian,
but there is separation between them, visible at least to this outsider.
Although I cannot feel it as an Italian would, I have learned of the
day’s importance to Italian Americans, and see the Columbus monument in
Norristown a prime example not only of the day’s significance to them, but to
that civilizing message itself. They may
run in parallel, but there is a close connection between the two.
The subject article says that “slowly
there is erupting a movement to abolish Columbus Day,” but just how threatened
is Columbus Day? That clearly depends on
where in this large, diverse country of ours that you live. The author recognizes this, and even seems to
find it understandable, when she says, “No
wonder people are challenging Columbus Day and winning support to change it to
Indigenous Peoples Day. In the American
Midwest and West, where the Italian populations are scarce and the American
Indian population is huge, Oregon and Minnesota’s Italian American population
is about 110,000 and others mentioned don’t reach 100,000.”
The message I take from this is very
American: the people are the authority, and the more local the better. That means the response to any attempt to
disestablish Columbus Day is going to vary quite a bit. Anadarko,
Oklahoma has abolished Columbus Day, but Norristown, Pennsylvania is not going
to.
Although I would not use the term
“erupting,” Columbus Day is clearly under pressure. But here’s the rub: in all of the actions,
proclamations, statements or whatever taken or made by any state or
municipality opposing Columbus Day, I have yet to see one—not even one—directed
against Italy, Italians, or Italian Americans.
Columbus long ago became a symbol of Europe’s “civilizing” influence on
the Western Hemisphere, its public persona.
In 1892, decades before it became a federal holiday, much of the nation
celebrated his 400th anniversary with what Wikipedia calls
“patriotic rituals.” That process had
continued, but today we celebrate diversity, with organizations such as Italianamericanherald.com among the
celebrants of diversity, Italian style.
It turns out that celebrating diversity is
not a universal good for everyone, as Italians are discovering. Columbus is part of Italian heritage, and his
memory is employed to help sustain and nourish a distinct Italian American
ethnicity. But for anyone who identifies
with “indigenous peoples,” sustaining their ethnic history requires recognizing
the havoc wrought upon them by the new immigrant Europeans.* For them, Columbus is a symbol; not of Italy
or Italians, but of Europe, the civilization that raped and plundered the
Western Hemisphere. The fact that he was
Italian is of no significance. Italy did
not even participate in the rape and plunder of the new world for the good and
sufficient reason that Italy did not yet exist.
Unfortunately, while there may be no
offense intended by Native Americans, there definitely is offense taken by
Italian Americans. But is the
downgrading of Columbus in areas where Italians are massively outnumbered by
Native Americans a symptom of the downgrading of Italian-American history? Perhaps only someone such as I, utterly
lacking in ethnicity, would even ask such a question, but I do. I would like to hear some thoughts on this
from you, my readers, and in particular would enjoy your thoughts on my
public/private distinction. How valid is
it?
I will conclude with the one point in the article with which I
wholeheartedly agree: “Educating all
generations is vital to Italian Americans sustaining their heritage, culture
and traditions. Honor the roots of our
Italian ancestors who forged onto a new land and were once the unwelcome
immigrant.” Regardless of the fate of Columbus Day in areas with little
Italian American population, those parts of America that do possess such peoples
should follow the advice quoted above. This
has been the central point of all my writing in this series on ethnicity that
has focused on Italian Americans. They
were indeed the unwelcome immigrants, once.
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