For those of you not living in Vermont or the city of Phoenix, make that Happy Columbus Day. If on the other hand, you do live in Vermont or Phoenix, my condolences.
So this is the “diversity” that would-be president Hillary Clinton espoused as a virtue at last night’s debate: making an absolute federao case of every custom in U.S. culture and/or history to assuage the grievances of one disenfranchised group or another.
According to CBS News, Vermont’s governor, Peter Shumlin, issued a proclamation today that pays homage to the “sacrifice and contributions of the First Peoples of this land.”
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Phoenix also jumped on the bandwagon, according to The Arizona Republic, which quotes nativist advocate Jeff Malkoon as observing:
The city of Phoenix is built on what was the Hohokam civilization. We just think this is a significant statement for a city like Phoenix, being such a center point in the Southwest.
The CBS article does mention that the day has special meaning for Italian-Americans, “a group that has endured its own share of discrimination,” for whom Columbus Day “commemorates an iconic explorer.”
Maybe the two factions should fight it out at a neutral location: My vote would be for New York’s Indigenous Peoples’ Circle, formerly known as Columbus Circle.
