PATCH ASKS: Should We Celebrate Columbus Day?

Columbus Day celebrates Christopher Columbus' arrival in the United States.

It became a state holiday in Colorado first, in 1906, and became a federal holiday in 1937. Many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage. The first occasion was celebrated right here in New York City on October 12, 1866.

—who chairs Community Board 11—is the Chairman of Queens County Columbus day parade. He's a member of the large Italian-American community in Northeast Queens, and he takes pride in celebrating Columbus as one of many Italians who changed our world for the better.

But Columbus expert Ian W. Toll isn't celebrating with him. Toll wrote of Columbus in The New York Times;

He was a harbinger of genocide. He was a Christianizing messiah. He was a pitiless slave master. He was a lionhearted seaman, a rapacious plunderer, a masterly navigator, a Janus-faced schemer, a liberator of oppressed tribes, a delusional megalomaniac.

Iannece believes that Columbus should be judged in the context of his time—which was a harsh one.

An Italian group called Progressive Italians to Transform the Columbus Holiday (Pitch) has a different take on Columbus;

We, as progressive Italians, support a holiday for Italian-Americans here in the United States, much as Saint Patrick's Day honors the contributions and achievements of people of Irish heritage. We believe there should be a celebration of Italian culture and heritage to honor the vast contributions of people of Italian descent to both our American and world culture today. We believe this day should be a national holiday, to recognize the difficult history of targeting and persecution people of Italian descent have faced throughout US history. 

However, we absolutely condemn the celebration of Columbus as an Italian cultural icon. Columbus' exploitation, enslavement, and mass murder in the Caribbean far outweigh any of his nautical achievements.

In a tongue-in-cheek column, with earnest points, Alexandra Petri in the Washington Post says we should "put the Columbus back in Columbus Day";

Time was, the Columbus story was popular. We sang merrily about it at school — 'In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue' — and discussed the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

He was an explorer! He was a discoverer!...Maybe he deserves another look. There are qualities in Columbus that we prize highly nowadays: persistence, belief, and the ability to travel long distances without burning fossil fuels.

…[W]hat we ought to celebrate about Columbus is his sheer tenacity — without him, we wouldn’t be here.

What do you think about Columbus Day?