Henrietta Hay's Column

By the time today's Sentinel gets to your front porch, we will know whether Columbus Day was celebrated, or whether there was rioting in the streets. My vote for a new name for the 2nd Monday in October is Reconciliation Day.

Many generations of American schoolchildren have grown up reciting the verse, "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two -- Columbus sailed the ocean blue." We were taught that he "discovered" America. We really believed that American history began in 1492. And now comes the 500th anniversary of that great event.

It is unfortunate that the 500th anniversary coincides with a time of rising ethnic passions. It has caused a social and ethical battle of major proportions. Celebration of the Columbus Quincentanary is certainly a cause for Native Americans to be angry, but this cannot be an excuse to ignore the story of the first encounters between Europeans and Native Americans. One learned friend commented that the controversy represents the tyranny of history. The conquerors get to write the history books.

Everybody knows by now that Chris did not discover America. He was a Johnny-come-lately. We know that the Indians were here many centuries before the beginnings of western civilization. During the Ice Age, over 20,000 years ago, nomadic Asian hunters crossed the ice bridge formed across the Bering Straits and eventually spread south to the southern tip of the Americas. These were the people who greeted Columbus.

We also know that white Europeans explored the Americas long before Columbus. About 3000 years ago bands of roving Celtic mariners crossed the Atlantic from Portugal and Spain to establish settlements in New England. Ancient Iberian and Egyptian artifacts have been found here, and much later, in the first century A.D., the Vikings arrived.

But we have been arrogant enough to pretend that it all started in 1492. Life was a lot simpler when the European version of ethno history prevailed.

Christopher Columbus was the symbol of the exploratory age. He was a master seaman and he had a vision. He believed that "God granted me the gift of knowledge and revealed to me that it was feasible to sail to the Indies and placed in me a burning desire to carry out this plan."

He is taking quite a beating this year, but we really can't blame everything that has happened in the past 500 years on Chris. After all, to put it in modern terms, he got a grant to do some research, he traveled on the queen's nickel, and he reported back to the boss. His findings were wrong and his behavior on land was not too great, but he did introduce --for better or for worse--western civilization to the Americas.

Certainly the treatment of the Native Americans from the beginning was harsh and unjust and inexcusable. But we live in a world of change and it was inevitable that this huge land mass would eventually be occupied by people of many cultures.

Today in America there are many minority groups, each with its own cultural identity. Our job now is not exploration or discovery, but reconciliation. As the various racial and cultural groups in the country are becoming larger and stronger and more defensive and active, somehow or other we have to learn how to live together. The major issue is how to assimilate all the minorities into the mainstream while maintaining their unique cultural heritages.

In spite of everything we have an "American Tradition" and all the diverse cultures have contributed to it. Democracy does work--sort of. We can still express our opinions and beliefs--most of the time. And we are learning from our mistakes - slowly.

So --Happy Indigenous People's Day, Italian-American Day, Discovery of America Day, Global Harmony Day, All Races from All Places Day, Harmony Day, Indian-Italian Peace Day, or whatever you want to call it. In Rodney King's words, "Can't we just get along?"