| Luke888 said: I will never get it: why do you Celebrate Columbus ? he only arrived in the Caribbean/some other island while Amerigo Vespucci actually reached the American mainland (probably South America but it's still thanks to him if European Empires realized that there was A HUGE ammount of unclaimed territory) in the end, it's thanks to him if America is called America... |
After strong lobbying from the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic service organization consisting largely of Italian Americans, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Oct. 12, 1937, as the first Columbus Day and “directed that flags be displayed on all government buildings on that date,” according to a front page item in the Los Angeles Times that September.
“Each recurrence of Columbus Day brings to all of us a greater appreciation of the heritage we have received as a result of the faith and courage and fortitude of the Genoese navigator and his brave companions,” Roosevelt said to mark the occasion the next year.
Congress passed the Monday Holiday Law in 1968, establishing the three-day weekend for some federal holidays and adding Columbus Day as an official public holiday. By then, 45 states were already observing it.
Since then, efforts to eliminate or rename the Columbus Day holiday in various states and cities have met strong resistance from Italian Americans, who have said Columbus is an important figure in their heritage and calling such efforts “anti-Italian American.”
-------------
People use to think of Columbus as this brave explorer that brought "civilization" to the Americas. Of course, we don't see things from such a Euro centric view these days and actually concede points like the natives lives and culture having value.
