No worse than others
Re: "Better icon needed than vile Columbus," Oct. 6 Cindy Rodriguez column.
Cindy Rodriguez's column was appalling and an insult to the intelligence of Italian-Americans and our ancestors. She has no understanding of why we celebrate Columbus Day, but instead buys into the myth that he was somehow worse than the other explorers of his day. Read about the brutality perpetuated on the Mexican people by Cortes and Pizzaro.
Italian-Americans don't support any atrocities perpetuated by anyone at any time. We also don't support the fact that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had slaves. Should we discontinue Presidents Day? How about the Fourth of July?
Columbus Day was started by our ancestors, as Rodriguez mentions in her column. They were not stupid. They knew what they were doing. Our ancestors are sacred to us because without them we couldn't live the American dream. If that is the holiday they wanted, we will celebrate with our dying breaths. The hate-filled, foul-mouthed thugs who protest the Columbus Day parade can't stop that. Whatever happened was more than 500 years ago. There are real causes today that need attention, and stopping Columbus Day isn't one of them.
MICHAEL SALARDINO
Pueblo
The writer is president of the Sons of Italy of Southern Colorado.
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Give them their day
Yes, it's called Columbus Day, but how many of us, Italian heritage or not, use the day to glorify Christopher Columbus? It is a day to celebrate the many contributions of Italian culture - mostly long after the death of Columbus. No other nation has had such a lasting impact on the art, architecture, music and literary gifts to the rest of the world. Where is our gratitude?
American-Italians ask for half a day each year to celebrate. Except for a short parade route, they disturb no traffic, keep no one from sleeping peacefully, overturn no automobiles, discharge no weapons. Then they live quietly and peacefully for another year until the next parade.
Let's not spoil the pleasure of Italian- Americans. They don't complain about Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick's Day, Juneteenth, the Chinese New Year, Martin Luther King Day or the memorializing cultural events of other nations.
MARYJANE RAABE
Denver
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Sophia Loren Day?
I agree with Cindy Rodriguez concerning Columbus. He was just as vicious and brutal as Cortes and Pizarro, and who needs to honor that mentality? Why not honor one of the greatest human beings who ever walked the Earth: St. Francis of Assisi? In our era of war, brutality and hopelessness, Francis' message of peace is for all people, whatever their religion. Italian-Americans in Denver seem woefully uninformed of their vast heritage.
And there's always da Vinci, Galileo, Marcus Aurelius, Michelangelo, Dante, John XXIII, Caravaggio, Julius Caesar, Puccini and Verdi. For that matter, I'll bet if you polled most Americans, Sophia Loren is more loved than Columbus ever was.
DIANNE SCIALLA
Greenwood Village
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