Published on October 11, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris
Donald Trump during CNN debate (Photo: Screen capture via video)
President Donald Trump issued a proclamation for “Columbus Day,” an antiquated holiday that still remains among some states in the U.S. that unaware of history.
“Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy. These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities, and his achievements with transgressions,” the proclamation says.
Trump used the proclamation to attack people he claims are trying to destroy the legacy of the man who never actually “discovered” the Americas to begin with.
Since archeology has advanced and experts studied the landing sites in the Americas and global texts that were written, it was found that the true credit goes to millions of native people who crossed over the Bering Land Bridge between what is now Russia and Alaska 13,000 or more years ago. Over thousands of years, those people ultimately populated the Americas.
Hundreds of years prior to Columbus, a Norse explorer from Iceland known as Leif Erikson is thought to have first set foot on the Americas in AD 1000. He called it Vinland, and the tales were written about in The Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders in 1200, centuries before Columbus was even born.
Columbus also wasn’t the first European to “discover” the Americas. Merchant Bjarni Herjólfsson claimed to have sighted the land west of Greenland in 986.
Trump’s White House has a horrendous record when it comes to science, however. In the past year, they’ve opted to trust ill-equipped doctors and X-ray experts on the coronavirus instead of virologists like Dr. Anthony Fauci. Ignoring the discoveries made by archaeologists over the past 100 years
Trump’s proclamation seems to want to replace the Americas’ actual history with the white-washed version and attack anyone who seeks to teach the failings, atrocities, and transgressions of the Columbus voyage noted reporter Jennifer Bendery. She tweeted Sunday that the failings, atrocities and transgressions are part of America’s history too, despite being ignored by Trump.
Here's a snippet from Trump's Proclamation for Columbus Day 2020. He says "radical activists" are trying to ruin Columbus' legacy by talking about his atrocities and that we must not "consent to such a bleak view of our history."
Except… Columbus' atrocities are our history? pic.twitter.com/QAOcS6UtiK
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 12, 2020
Columbus, who was Italian, is still heralded by Italians, but it wasn’t Italy that funded his mission to the Americas. It was the Catholic Monarchs and ultimately King Ferdinand and Isabella who ultimately made the mission happen.
There are hundreds of other Italian Americans who have made outstanding contributions to American culture over the past 200 years, which could be held up as a link between the two countries.
President Donald Trump issued a proclamation for “Columbus Day,” an antiquated holiday that still remains among some states in the U.S. that unaware of history.
“Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy. These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities, and his achievements with transgressions,” the proclamation says.
Trump used the proclamation to attack people he claims are trying to destroy the legacy of the man who never actually “discovered” the Americas to begin with.
Since archeology has advanced and experts studied the landing sites in the Americas and global texts that were written, it was found that the true credit goes to millions of native people who crossed over the Bering Land Bridge between what is now Russia and Alaska 13,000 or more years ago. Over thousands of years, those people ultimately populated the Americas.
Hundreds of years prior to Columbus, a Norse explorer from Iceland known as Leif Erikson is thought to have first set foot on the Americas in AD 1000. He called it Vinland, and the tales were written about in The Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders in 1200, centuries before Columbus was even born.
Columbus also wasn’t the first European to “discover” the Americas. Merchant Bjarni Herjólfsson claimed to have sighted the land west of Greenland in 986.
Trump’s White House has a horrendous record when it comes to science, however. In the past year, they’ve opted to trust ill-equipped doctors and X-ray experts on the coronavirus instead of virologists like Dr. Anthony Fauci. Ignoring the discoveries made by archaeologists over the past 100 years
Trump’s proclamation seems to want to replace the Americas’ actual history with the white-washed version and attack anyone who seeks to teach the failings, atrocities, and transgressions of the Columbus voyage noted reporter Jennifer Bendery. She tweeted Sunday that the failings, atrocities and transgressions are part of America’s history too, despite being ignored by Trump.
Here's a snippet from Trump's Proclamation for Columbus Day 2020. He says "radical activists" are trying to ruin Columbus' legacy by talking about his atrocities and that we must not "consent to such a bleak view of our history."
Except… Columbus' atrocities are our history? pic.twitter.com/QAOcS6UtiK
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 12, 2020
Columbus, who was Italian, is still heralded by Italians, but it wasn’t Italy that funded his mission to the Americas. It was the Catholic Monarchs and ultimately King Ferdinand and Isabella who ultimately made the mission happen.
There are hundreds of other Italian Americans who have made outstanding contributions to American culture over the past 200 years, which could be held up as a link between the two countries.
Proclamation on Columbus Day, 2020
Issued on: October 9, 2020
More than 500 years ago, Christopher Columbus’s intrepid voyage to the New World ushered in a new era of exploration and discovery. His travels led to European contact with the Americas and, a century later, the first settlements on the shores of the modern day United States. Today, we celebrate Columbus Day to commemorate the great Italian who opened a new chapter in world history and to appreciate his enduring significance to the Western Hemisphere.
When Christopher Columbus and his crew sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María it marked the beginning of a new era in human history. For Italian Americans, Christopher Columbus represents one of the first of many immeasurable contributions of Italy to American history. As a native of Genoa, Columbus inspired early immigrants to carry forth their rich Italian heritage to the New World. Today, the United States benefits from the warmth and generosity of nearly 17 million Italian Americans, whose love of family and country strengthen the fabric of our Nation. For our beautiful Italian American communities — and Americans of every background –Columbus remains a legendary figure.
Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy. These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities, and his achievements with transgressions. Rather than learn from our history, this radical ideology and its adherents seek to revise it, deprive it of any splendor, and mark it as inherently sinister. They seek to squash any dissent from their orthodoxy. We must not give in to these tactics or consent to such a bleak view of our history. We must teach future generations about our storied heritage, starting with the protection of monuments to our intrepid heroes like Columbus. This June, I signed an Executive Order to ensure that any person or group destroying or vandalizing a Federal monument, memorial, or statue is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I have also taken steps to ensure that we preserve our Nation’s history and promote patriotic education. In July, I signed another Executive Order to build and rebuild monuments to iconic American figures in a National Garden of American Heroes. In September, I announced the creation of the 1776 Commission, which will encourage our educators to teach our children about the miracle of American history and honor our founding. In addition, last month I signed an Executive Order to root out the teaching of racially divisive concepts from the Federal workplace, many of which are grounded in the same type of revisionist history that is trying to erase Christopher Columbus from our national heritage. Together, we must safeguard our history and stop this new wave of iconoclasm by standing against those who spread hate and division.
On this Columbus Day, we embrace the same optimism that led Christopher Columbus to discover the New World. We inherit that optimism, along with the legacy of American heroes who blazed the trails, settled a continent, tamed the wilderness, and built the single-greatest nation the world has ever seen.
In commemoration of Christopher Columbus’s historic voyage, the Congress, by joint resolution of April 30, 1934, modified in 1968 (36 U.S.C. 107), has requested the President proclaim the second Monday of October of each year as “Columbus Day.”
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 12, 2020, as Columbus Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. I also direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in honor of our diverse history and all who have contributed to shaping this Nation.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.
DONALD J. TRUMP
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