Columbus Day

“You did what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better.” ~Maya Angelou

Today is Columbus Day. I’ve read several Twitter posts (one of which was quite profane) indirectly or directly condemning Columbus, saying things like, “Today is Columbus Day in the U.S or as I like to call it, ‘First Illegal Immigrant Amnesty Day.’" Another said he was “Inspired 2 write a poem 2 commemorate the Columbus Day f***ery. ('cuse the profanity, it’s a profane holiday).” Some said Columbus was an idiot who got lost and proceeded to enslave a nation of natives.” Still others have called him a rapist and a “genocidal maniac.” Of course, all of these comments are made while looking through the lens of modern day beliefs and values, not the beliefs and values held by society back in 1792.

There are those who believe the U.S. should pay reparations to African Americans as a way to apologize for slavery. Yet the “adopted son” (an African American man) of Jane Pittman (see The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman) believed (and taught) that slavery was the fault of the white man and black Africans. He believed that if the African tribes had stood together, rather than fight each other, they could have fended off the white man. Not only that, but he pointed out that it was Africans who sold their brothers (and sisters) into slavery. Because he believed that both were to blame, he believed that both should take responsibility for their roles in slavery, and then move forward past slavery. Again, those who believe reparations should be paid are looking through the lens of modern day beliefs and values, not those held by society in the 1800s.

I’m not saying that the U.S. is perfect. We are people, and people always make mistakes – sometimes really big mistakes. What I am saying, however, is that we should perhaps apply Maya Angelou’s wise words not just to ourselves individually, but to our country as a whole. We did what we knew how to do, and when we knew better, we did (and are doing) better.

Are we going to want those who come after us, in some cases hundreds of years after us, to judge us as harshly as we are now judging those who came before us? Or do we hope that they forgive us our mistakes and focus on what we did right, understanding that we did the best we could?