Today is Columbus Day, a holiday in many parts of the world which honors Christopher Columbus, the Italian who reached the America’s in 1492 and claimed the new world for Spain.

If you have ever traveled to Barcelona, Spain, you likely have seen the tall statue of Columbus that has become controversial.  

Somebody found out that Columbus had some unsavory developments in his life and that he should be treated as a thug not a hero.

You will find this assessment on the Internet:  “To celebrate Columbus is to celebrate a legacy of genocide, slavery, rape and plunder.   It commemorates the violent and bloody accumulation of capital for the ruling classes of Europe and, later, the United States.”

Christopher Columbus is a historical figure, who was born in Genoa, Italy but the King and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella underwrote the cost of his first voyage across the Atlantic.   When I learned about Columbus in grade school and his ships the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, I enjoyed the story.  I didn’t know about any atrocities.  All this brings about a reluctance to finding out about your ancestry. You never know what your forefathers might have been up to.   Selah!