Trump's Columbus Day proclamation includes stark warnings

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

By: Associated Press
Posted at 5:33 AM, Oct 12, 2020 and last updated 4:33 AM, Oct 12, 2020

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s proclamation Friday commemorating Columbus Day veered from a typical White House holiday announcement, with stark warnings of “radical activists” seeking to tarnish the explorer’s legacy.

Native American advocates have pressed states for years to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day over concerns that Christopher Columbus helped launch centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas.

. . .

“Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy,” Trump said in his proclamation declaring Monday Columbus Day. “These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities, and his achievements with transgressions.”

. . .

“Together, we must safeguard our history and stop this new wave of iconoclasm by standing against those who spread hate and division,” Trump declared.

Read more: https://www.wptv.com/media/v/content/1e43ad6d624fc3e8b33bd6370e710c09

---

[BKDem]

1. "Stand against those who spread hate and division."

Donald really is special, isn’t he?

[AZ8theist]

8. Pot? Meet kettle....

[BumRushDaShow]

2. "stark warnings of "radical activists" seeking to tarnish the explorer's legacy."

Columbus NEVER set foot anywhere on the North American continent. There is no "U.S. legacy" that associates to him other than his practice of encouraging and/or carrying out the eradication of indigenous peoples in the Caribbean and the nearby land masses of North, Meso, & South American, on behalf of some "European" crown.

[cab67]

13. In the very strictest sense....

....Columbus did actually set foot on the North American mainland. Panama is usually considered part of North America, geologically if not culturally, and Columbus made landfall there in 1502.

But I agree with your point.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. I was always taught that countries like Panama were in "Central America"

where Mexico was still considered part of "North America".

And of all countries, Panama is closest to South America.

[William Seger]

20. It depends on if your talking about politics or geology

In geology, North America and South America are usually considered to be either separate continents or subcontinents of The Americas continent, but Central America is a political region generally considered as part of North America.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. In terms of what was posted below you

there is an international distinction between "Northern America" and "North America" (as a continent).

ETA - and Columbus did NOT set foot anywhere in what is now the United States of America!

[cab67]

42. Not the USA proper...

...but he did set foot in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. US territory, albeit not states and not physically attached to the North American mainland, though geologically part of North America.


I have no idea why I'm feeling so picky today. And I agree completely with you - saying "Columbus discovered America" is wrong on many fronts, especially in the US, where "America" is often used to mean "United States of America." On the mainland, he never got north of Panama, and his other North American landfalls were all islands.

Not to mention that the Norse had also "discovered" a land mass with people already living on it.

John Oliver did a spot about this a few years back. Frank Sinatra Day was proposed (probably not seriously) as a replacement to honor Italian-Americans. And there are many others. De Niro Day? La Guardia Day? Cabrini Day? Heck - why not Fauci Day?

(I would actually suggest an approach similar to Irish-Americans, who celebrate the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland, Patrick. The patron saints of Italy, Catherine of Siena and Francis of Asisi, both have perfectly good feast days. Indeed, the feast day for Francis of Asisi is October 4, reasonably close to Columbus Day.)

[BumRushDaShow]

43. That's the thing

The whole point of this Columbus myth was to assuage the latest group of immigrants (the Italians) who were being vilified at the time during and after WWI, to give them something to throw them a bone - notably after the fantastical Washington Irving tomes - "A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus".

Roosevelt (yes the same "revered" FDR who locked up Japanese in internment camps and kept my WW2 father in a segregated army) was the one to declare Columbus Day a "national holiday".

I would rather see Galileo Galilee (who has had a major, if embryonic, influence on United States' science and technology) celebrated than someone like Columbus.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. Right!

I knew that the U.N. has some kind of definition to separate the continents.

[Ferrets are Cool]

14. Including enslavement and pedophilia

He was a monster. It is a travesty that we have a National Holiday for him. Happy Indigenous Peoples Day.

[SergeStorms]

37. Are those the "vast achievements"....

of which Trump speaks? Old Donnie doesn't have a clue what Columbus did, does he?

[Ferrets are Cool]

38. He has the most revisionist history in the history of history.

[EndlessWire]

3. It's laughable.

He's rallying his troops. I doubt he even knows someone is named Christopher Columbus. All right--who told him??

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Trump cannot spell, pronounce, or fathom 'iconoclasm'

So this declaration is manufactured bullshit

[Judi Lynn]

5. So true! It would be impossible trying to explain it to him. Completely unnatural. n/t

[onenote]

6. And neither can 90 percent of his supporters

[BobsYourUncle]

7. 'Iconoclasm' is the secret proof

that tRump didn’t write the proclamation.

[iluvtennis]

32. + agree. Stephen Miller coined the trump statement. nt

[Yavin4]

39. At the debate, Biden should challenge Trump to spell and define it. n/t

[reACTIONary]

47. +10 nt

[sinkingfeeling]

9. In other words, I demand we continue to live in a fantasy world, where

truth is hidden.

[yellowcanine]

10. Wasn't written by Trump. Too articulate.

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. when I think of Columbus Day, I think of a particular Sopranos episode!

[LeftInTX]

40. LOL..Sorta kinda...

The Italian community founded Columbus Day. (1930s) At the time, there was discrimination against Italians. In the early 70's was co-opted by one of the crime families who was tired of minorities in the civil rights movement. The crime families accused the FBI of discrimination against Italians.

It was kind of a joke in the 70s for various Southern European ethnic groups to apply for college grants. (There is/was no classification for Southern Europeans, but everyone joked about it)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian-American_Civil_Rights_League

[cab67]

12. it doesn't include warnings.

it includes insults.

even when ghost-written by someone with basic literacy, Trump manages to be a small, spiteful little man who never sees friends unless there are enemies.

[Squinch]

15. Oh, he's doing proclamations now, is he?

[NoRoadUntravelled]

17. tRump, spreading misinformation and Covid19 wherever he goes.

nt

[milestogo]

18. Iconoclasm is way too big a word for him to have come up with.

[PatrickforO]

22. I had never heard this word before. When I looked it up, I saw its first definition is

'the action of attacking or assertively rejecting cherished beliefs and institutions or established values and practices.'

It's second definition is 'the rejection or destruction of religious images as heretical; the doctrine of iconoclasts.'

So, we who want to start on the path toward social and economic justice must be guilty of the first part of the definition, but I'm thinking that if we 'reject or destroy the old confederate statues, and make racism heretical,' it will be good for us as a people.

[Arthur_Frain]

19. As if he could begin to define iconoclasm

Stick to the one syllable words shithead, you’ll confuse your base.

[PatrickforO]

21. I like the idea of changing it to Indigenous Peoples Day.

Same old racist trope from Trump. Let's pound our chests while hugging a flag so we can forget this nation was built on slavery and genocide.

But you know what? Let's not forget that. In fact, let's talk about it, and what's more, let's DO something about it, beginning with some much needed reforms of police departments.

By the way, we need to bring back training on implicit bias to federal workers when the Racist in Chief is ousted.

[Retrograde]

46. Contact Day

Last edited Mon Oct 12, 2020, 04:58 PM - Edit history (1)

Columbus and his ships encountered people Europeans had never encountered, and the locals encountered people outside their ken. And for better or worse, it changed the world.

Like most people, Columbus was a mixture of good and bad. He seems to have been a decent navigator and sailor (I'm always amazed that not only could he lead 3 ships across the ocean but he could find his way back with the primitive navigation he had) but a shitty human being -even taking into account the customs of the time (remember that Spain had finished kicking out its conquerors shortly before he sailed - if that hadn't happened he wouldn't have gotten funding from Spain). I think we should observe the day as one dedicated to looking at others as human beings, and reflecting on the contributions all peoples - immigrants and natives - have made to the US and to the world.

[reACTIONary]

48. Thanks! Good perspective. nt

[barbtries]

23. iconclasm?

well, we know who didn't write that.

[dalton99a]

24. It was written by the little Nazi Miller

[pandr32]

34. +1

[llashram]

25. While divisive rhetoric like this

in the last 4 years plus has made me understand just how serious this challenge to our Democracy has become and what mandate must be sent with Vice-president Biden and Senator Harris to carry to the White House on January 20th 2021.

The plot(alledged) by members of trumps Trumpistan brown shirts to kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Whitmer, a courageous leader who has stood against trump and up to trumps agents of death and destruction, I now know it is deathly serious for all who, despite it's obvious but fixable flaws, want America to keep trying for generations more, if necessary, to turn this current dung heap led by a fascist wannabe dictator and his grand old racist Party, into the bright shining city on a hill.

[Warpy]

35. Some Icelandic researchers think they've found Native American DNA in their people

but going that deep into time is very iffy. It wouldn't be surprising, they know the settlements were here, probably for a decade or so. Fur and timber were desperately needed by Greenlanders, so the settlements were most likely later used for temporary shelter on expeditions while those were harvested, usually over the strenuous objections of the local tribes.

The Black Death in Europe in combination with a period of extreme cold caused the Greenland colony to collapse, and voyages to America ceased,

[LeftInTX]

41. Many Scandinavians/Eastern Europeans/Russians have a very small percentage of Native American DNA.

It could go back to before the Native Americans came to the North America.

The percentage is picked on on GEDMatch, but not with major DNA companies.

[Warpy]

44. Scientists Discover Ancient Siberian Population That Is The Ancestors Of Modern Native Americans

Two remarkable discoveries in Siberia recently have revealed the existence of two previously unknown groups of ancient peoples. As it turns out, one of these lost Siberian populations is believed to be the ancestor of modern Native Americans.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/ancient-native-american-dna

The site is in far northeastern Siberia. It seems unlikely.

Then again, it seems unlikely that the Vikings ranged from Nowfoundland to the Middle East, but they did.

[Warpy]

30. I don't think that dumb bastard has learned a thing since his hormones started taking over

and I'd peg that at about 1956 or so. He really is stuck in the 1950s as far as his knowledge of who lives in this country goes.

[Moral Compass]

31. Penned by Stephen Miller

[catbyte]

33. This Ojibwe thinks he's a goddamned lowlife. So was Columbus.

[maxsolomon]

36. LOL at "Radical Activists".

Wanting to be honest about history, warts and all, is not radical; it's RATIONAL. Columbus was a useful figure for Italian Americans seeking acceptance in immigrant-hostile America, but he was a genocidal bastard who repulsed almost every one he commanded with his needless cruelty.

Rational Activism.

[Griefbird]

45. Columbus didn't discover the Americas;

he discovered that Europeans were ignorant.