History's Most Significant Event

Someone once said that the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus was the most significant event of the past one thousand years. When you think of all that occurred as a result, the utter transformation of the American continents, the cross-pollination of three races (red, white and black) and their cultures, it is hard to imagine or name a more significant discovery or event.

This summer a replica of the Nina, one of Columbus's ships, was harbored here in Duluth, MN. Unlike a century ago when such a visitation would create fascination, these days it brings the baggage of protest. The protesters were leafleting, educating the public with regard to the dark side of the Conquistador experience.

To some extent they are correct. History does have its dark sides. For this reason I wrote the following letter to the editor, which was published this past month in the Duluth News Tribune.

Don't blame the Nina:

History is full of horrors

In December 1980 when I was at the Zocalo in Mexico City, archaeologists had unearthed a room the length and width of a football field filled with human skulls to a depth of twenty feet. The protesters of the Nina here in Duluth may wish to (correctly) note that Christopher Columbus did not herald all good things for natives of the Americas, but this single archaeological dig is evidence that not all atrocities in this hemisphere originated with whites from across the seas ("Protesters say Nina ignores dark side of history," July 17).

Christopher Columbus' original aim was to find a route to India. His intentions were earnest, not malicious. And no, he was not a genocidal maniac. Nor were most of the explorers who followed in his wake. For example, I have never blamed Columbus for the Trail of Tears. Descendants of English speaking whites carried out that disaster.

The dark side of human behavior neither begins nor ends with Western Civilization. Robert Burns noted, “Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.” Horrors have been committed by every race throughout the course of history. This past century we have seen horrors in Rwanda, Uganda, Cambodia, Algeria, Bosnia, Albania, as well as the German Holocaust and Stalin’s terrors. A-bombs obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And going further back we see the Spanish Inquisition, Genghis Khan, the American slave trade, Vikings, Huns and more.

Since perpetrating evil is the province of all races, perhaps the solution can be found by all races working together to find solutions that are relevant to all races… today. Better jobs, housing, freedom to live without fear of violence, hope for tomorrow… these are things toward which we can all work together, rather than quibbling over the meaning of a replica of a 500 year old boat.