October as Italian Heritage Month, and Columbus Day in particular should be a time of great rejoicing. But so much effort is going to have to go toward defending Columbus from attacks from Native Americans like the American Indian Movement,(AIM). As in, I shot an arrow in the air, and missed :) !!!

AIM however, is not content with denegrating Columbus, they continue with their PERSONAL disparaging attack on Italian Americans.

AIM, is the group that in the past has shouted "Mafia Scum" at Italian American Columbus Day Marchers, and this year in a press release referred to us as "our Italian friends, and the Sopranos ..." @#$%&^*

Denver Post
By David Harsanyi
Columnist
Thursday, October 07, 2004 -

Columbus Day is again upon us. A parade. Balloons. Cops. Violence. Recrimination. Pseudo-historical ranting.

You know - fun for the kids.

A few Native Americans and the usual suspects in the Coalition of Progressives Against All Western Culture will again attempt to intimidate local Italian-Americans as they celebrate the legacy of an important, if somewhat imprecise, explorer.

Christopher Columbus is often compared to Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin. The Genoese explorer doesn't belong in any conversation that includes genocidal dictators. Quite the opposite.

But Vernon Bellecourt, the principal spokesman for the American Indian Movement, has fought against Columbus Day for decades and lent a helping hand in organizing the protests here in Denver.

By 1991, his brand of "civil disobedience" became so violent in Denver that Columbus Day parades ended for the rest of the decade. When the parade was resuscitated in 2000, police arrested 147 protesters who tried to block Denverites from celebrating a national holiday.

Through his Ministry of Information, Bellecourt sends me a press release titled "Re: Indigenous People's Opposition to Celebration and Glorification of Colonial Pirate Christopher Columbus," and it is addressed to "our Italian friends, and the Sopranos ..."

Bellecourt is out there, but surely he is aware that Tony Soprano is a fictional character. Like Tonto, the Lone Ranger's servile sidekick, an insulting stereotype.

Bellecourt says Columbus - an Italian - spurred an orgy of "murder, torture, raping, pillaging, robbery, slavery, kidnapping, and forced removal (of Indians) from their homeland."

American Indians suffered terribly under European rule. There is no argument, no excuse.

But when I mention that Native Americans weren't exactly peaceful egalitarians, collecting berries and expanding their utopia when Columbus arrived, I get a lengthy spiel on some elaborate plot by the CIA in Guatemala and "reactionaries."

Since everyone knows the CIA couldn't pull off a toddler's diaper, much less a complex coup, my reaction is to move on.

An infinitely more composed and grounded Rev. Patrick Demmer of Graham Memorial Church of God in Christ in Park Hill, is also taking part in the protests as part of a joint effort of the Greater Denver Ministerial Alliance.

"They have a great heritage; they are a great people," Demmer says of Italian-Americans. "I went to school in Mapleton with many Italians. I love the Italian people. I love the food. I love the culture. I think Italians are extremely cool. They have a lot of soul. Why they choose to embrace a slave trader and rapist is beyond me."

Pamela Wright, maiden name Ciancio, acknowledges atrocities under Spanish rule, too, but disputes the Reverend's characterization of Columbus.

Wright, who is president of the local Sons of Italy and a lifelong Denver area resident, thinks the whole thing is just sad. She's been going to the Columbus Day parades in Denver since she was a kid - excluding the decade protesters shut it down.

In recent years she's witnessed protesters brandishing signs that call Italians "Mafia scum." She's seen the streets lined with police dressed in riot gear and angry protesters yelling at her.

"I think Columbus Day is a holiday all Americans should take part in. I view it as an opportunity for Americans to stand back and look at what we have. We celebrate what he brought here. Because of his voyage, he not only changed America, he changed the world."

No one is innocent. Columbus included. Yet, to Americans who march each year, he is a courageous hero for bravely traversing the Atlantic and (sort of) discovering America.

Fortunately, he's less convincing in the role of scapegoat.

David Harsanyi's column appears Monday and Thursday. He may be reached at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com .

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