Columbus Day Thoughts

I just hung out my Italian flag to honor Columbus Day today.  In view of what South San Francisco's city council did back on Aug. 26th cancelling the observance of the day, I wanted to register my protest on my porch and on the Voice.  There is a famous arm movement used by Italian drivers, especially in Rome, that applies here in my opinion.  But let's just review some of the history that myopic public officials are trying to cancel.  From today's Wall Street Journal piece by Alessandra Bocchi

Columbus Day became a national holiday in the U.S. in 1968 thanks in part to the lobbying efforts of Italian-Americans.  Italian immigrants, most of whom came from Naples and Sicily, faced severe discrimination in the 19th century. “They were heavily exploited, and in some instances they were paid less than ‘white’ and ‘colored’ labor—for instance in the work on New York’s Croton Reservoir,” says Seton Hall historian William Connell, author of “The Routledge History of Italian Americans.”

That wasn’t the worst of it. In 1899 the New York Sun described the “unwritten law of the south,” under which “white men could not be lynched—with the exception of the Italian.” Italian-Americans were the target of the biggest lynching in American history, in New Orleans in 1891. After the police chief of New Orleans was shot, hundreds of Sicilian immigrants were rounded up without cause, and nine were tried for murder. The jury acquitted them, but Mayor Joseph A. Shakespeare organized a mob of between 8,000 and 20,000, which stormed the prison and murdered the nine men and two other Sicilians who were held for unrelated charges.

A future president was among those cheering on the mob. “Personally I think it rather a good thing,” Theodore Roosevelt wrote to his sister. The New York Times editorialized: “These sneaking and cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins . . . are to us a pest without mitigations.”

In 1925 the Ku Klux Klan opposed an effort to erect a statue of Columbus in Richmond, Va. The Klan lost the argument, and the monument was dedicated in December 1927.

So the South San Francisco council stands with the KKK and numerous other racists.  Frankly the ones who voted to do this should resign in disgrace.  They probably wouldn't try to drive to the East Bay without GPS and Waze never mind get in a little ship and sail to the end of the earth where common belief said they would fall off.  Basta.

Comments

[Really]

This is the kind of pretzel logic it takes the winner to convince themselves they are the oppressed. Wtf.

[Joe]

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Really. Deal with it.

[wtf]

Hey Joe -- can you name the Indigenous Peoples that first lived in the area that is now known as San Mateo County? And what methods were used to push them out, kill them, and erase them from history?

[Joe]

Sure. Can you tell me what year Columbus came to San Mateo County? Didn't think so, idiot.

[Paloma Ave]

wtf - I signed up for Nextdoor after hearing about the tree falling in Washington Park.

It is incredible what younger people are posting there. If children are our future I am afraid we are in deep doo-doo.

For example, one young person posted this bio: "Just wading my way through the field guide of suburban racism that is Burlingame on Nextdoor."

Back to topic. Let me point out that Spanish were here after the Ohlone. Then it was the Mexicans. Then it was the Europeans.

Many seem to want to forget about the first two and blame everything on the Europeans.

[MAGA]

Keep in mind if the left wins in a few weeks this Columbus Day in America (never mind SSF) will have been the last one.

[Wunderkind]

My DNA has been in North America about 400 years. Part Wampanoag. Chief had the rather uninspiring name of Old Chicken Warrup.

Martha’s Vineyard was part of our territory. Thinking about asking the Obama family for Hyannisport reparations.

Chances?

[No Wokester]

The wokester snowflakes don't handle confrontation very well. If they have a mask and a frozen water bottle they get ballsy. No mask, no real history, no argument.

The SSF racists are a moment in time. Like fake Catholic Nancy "statues don't matter to me" Pelosi. The KKK hated Catholics more than blacks. The old term was papists and they hunted them. We will see it in 2020 this week with the Supreme Court hearings. Things don't change much. The wokesters will grow up and be embarrassed by their woke ignorance.

[Sign Me Up]

If South SF wanted an Indigenous Day they should declare one that isn't Columbus Day and leave Columbus Day alone. Yelp just added a racist button to their reviews. Maybe we need to review SSF as racist.

[4th grade flashbacks]

@Paloma Ave.: Was Spain voted out of Europe and I somehow missed it?

Also, just for the record: Europeans didn't move in after the Mexicans (unless you count the small Russian attempt at Ft. Ross from 1812-1841)...but the Americans sure did.

[BillyGBob]

Joe, Columbus sailed west to reach Asia because he knew the Earth was round (which had pretty much been established 2,000 years before and, by the 15th Century, was common knowledge amongst anyone with the means to fund or undertake such a voyage). But don't let facts get in the way of an attempt to be snarky.

[Joe]

BGB, don't worry. I won't >wink<. C'mon, man, that's a really good line and you know it!

Well, there's theory and there is experience. Magellan didn't leave for his circumnavigation until 1519 and didn't get back to tell anyone about it for 3 years.

BTW, Columbus' greatest feat might have been to do the whole trip on OPM (from Spain).

Anyway you look at it, the sad virtue-signallers in SF and SSF are a disgrace.

[BillyGBob]

Actually, I disagree. I have no problem with a jurisdiction not wishing to recognize Columbus Day. It has nothing to do with being anti-Italian or anti-Catholic. It has everything to do with being anti-dude-who-enslaved-thousands-and-opened-door-for-genocide. Recognizing Italian and Catholic contributions to the US is great. Just pick someone else (Philip Mazzei or Bartolome de las Casas, for example).

[Paloma Ave]

4th grader - Are you unaware of the term "Latinx"?

Apparently they want to be considered different from white Europeans.

[No Wokester]

It looks like Joe has exposed a wokester or two. They are experts at seeing systemic racism in others but avoid the mirror. They love to tell others how to think and who is and isn't OK to honor. Very wokester-ish

[Libertarian]

America is the least racist country that has ever existed in the world's history.
That is a fact that is undeniable.
Is it perfect yet, no.
Is it the best ever, yes.
Try being white in Mexico.
Try being non-Chinese in China.
Try attempting to climb the economic and social ladder in France without being a French origin citizen.
The list goes on and on.
Why is America the first priority for the world to seek entry?
The Marxist leftists want to destroy the world's most sought sanctuary.
How sad, but defining of their lack of integrity, honesty and knowledge.

[BillyGBob]

Using the term "Marxist leftist" in this topic shows one or more of the following: (a) you have no idea what it is; (b) you do, but assume other readers on this forum don't; and/or (c) you couldn't care less either way, but you really like the dopamine hit you get when others respond appropriately from getting their right-wing, centrist, or left-wing buttons pushed. The rest of the comment reads like a typical troll-bot rant generator, or an RT/OAN script.

[Barking Dog]

BGB, so its safe to say your comments read like a CNN, MSNBC, DSA, Mike Dunham/Jordan Grimes/Cindy Cornell/Peninsula for Everyone script, correct?

[Fugit All]

The quarantine got you feeling ornery, Joe?

What's next: an All Lives Matter post?

Trolling your readers isn't very neighborly.

[Barking Dog]

All Lives dont matter to you Fugit?
Is it racist trope if it is said?
Your a buffoon.

[Fugit All]

YOU'RE a buffoon.

Corrected it for ya, BD.

[Barking Dog]

Thanks for the grammer correction, appreciate it.

YOU'RE a buffoon.

[Joe]

I guess trolling is in the eyes of the fish.

It's Columbus Day, it will always be Columbus Day and the little cancellers will just have to deal with it.

[oh well]

Well this little blog sure has sunk to a new low. Seems like no one can voice an intelligent thought or viewpoint without quickly resorting to name calling. Hmmm, I wonder who has emboldened that behavior?

[resident]

Fugit All. But you can't be surprised.