![]() They have done so in ways that offer a counter-narrative that reveals hidden histories and gives voice to the silenced. Today’s activists continue a longer tradition by Native Americans who have confronted US monuments. He represents the genesis of forces that embraced slavery and colonialism, because he was personally involved in enslavement, mass brutality and theft of indigenous land. Native American activists have long seen Columbus as a villain, an agent responsible for the invasion, conquest and subsequent occupation of the Americas. In 1988, Ronald Reagan suggested Columbus was the “inventor” of the American Dream, and in 2019, Trump hailed him as a “great explorer, whose courage, skill, and drive for discovery are at the core of the American spirit”. Presidents have lined up to praise his legacy. ![]() ![]() Columbus Day parades, some even predating the official holiday, featuring replica ships became commonplace, and Columbus increasingly became a symbol of courage and initiative, of pushing frontiers. Statues sprang up across the country, often donated by organisations such as the Sons of Italy. In a speech marking Independence Day on July 4, the US president, Donald Trump, suggested that the “American way of life” began in 1492 “when Columbus discovered America”.Ĭolumbus Day, originally on October 12, became a national holiday in 1937, energetically embraced by Italian-American communities as a badge of whiteness and acceptance in a nation that had been hostile to many Italian immigrants. Despite the fact that the Italian explorer never set foot in what was to become the United States, he is lauded for “discovering” America and has been welded to the very idea of its modern nation state. ![]() Columbus has endured as a particularly sacred national symbol. ![]()
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