What is Columbus Day, really?
Interesting article by Kristin Palpini (“Between the Lines: Columbus, Genocidal Slave-Traders Should Not Get Their Own Holidays” May 26-June 1, 2016). As a child growing up in the ’60s and ’70s I learned from my family and my public education that Christopher Columbus discovered America. As an Italian American that was something I was proud of and held my American flag high at the Columbus Day Parade. As do many events in history, the real story was not told and so our bubbles were burst and we moved on. I would like to know what you are going to tell your grandchildren when a bully, not to mention a narcissist, gets elected president of the United States in November? How all Mexicans are rapist and anyone coming into our country needs to take a test on religion? Or how we built a wall around our country? Maybe this is where you should be concerned.
Marie Saunders
Springfield
Let’s make clear that disqualifying Columbus, et al. as apology for the way indigenous people were treated by Euros is not to be taken as an apology for the Euro conquest of the Western Hemisphere. Not one square foot of land on this planet, anywhere (except Antarctica?), has never seen a battle over space and resources. My point is that the natural and eternal struggle for control of resources should be practiced with humanity.
Al Esofus
Northampton
Triple Beef
My frustration with the Valley Advocate is at an all time high. This may be apparent from the three examples I would like to give. 1.) The recent letter ” Choose: President Trump or Nuclear Strike” is sensationalist crap. There is total untruth about Iran possessing nuclear weapons let alone any ability to launch an ICBM. Do you print these lies to motivate conversation? 2.) The question came up in The V-Spot column about children learning about consensual behavior. The parent asked for help with her 7-year-old. Yana states that no one should touch a child without their consent even to give them a hug and that all adults need to ask permission to touch them. What about a child who is yearning for and needing a hug for reconciliation, but is too upset to understand their own needs? What if a child is acting out and needs to be restrained so no one is hurt. To give Yana credit, she did say she isn’t a parent. 3.) Kristin Palpini, in her recent article, “Between the Lines: Allies, Give Money, Support — and Silence” (June 2-8, 2016), misses the point and shows her hypocrisy. To say that allies should be sympathetic and not empathetic is contradicted by her quote from Indigenous Australian Lilia Watson, “If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. If you come because your liberation is bound up in mine, then let us work together.” To go to her to help her comes from sympathy. To join in mutual liberation comes from empathy. She is not asking for sympathy and charity. She is asking for us to raise our voices and create our actions together. Any time someone says a certain group should be quiet, I get scared. We all need to be able to voice our uniqueness and personal identity for there to be unity.
Gary Novack
Charlemont
