Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.
Virgil A. Sestini, in his Oct. 8 letter, "Why Columbus Day should be celebrated," excuses Columbus' actions by detailing cruelties practiced by tribes unrelated to the friendly Arawaks. Sestini links all native tribes together, although the Arawaks were the only people Columbus met when he landed.
With enslaved Arawaks, Columbus sailed to Hispaniola (which is today Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Wherever he went, he killed or enslaved the indigenous people in his quest for gold and other valuables.
Bartolome de las Casas was a priest who accompanied Columbus on his second trip. Las Casas writes, " Our work was to ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; the admiral (Columbus) is so anxious to please the king that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians."
Although many are not aware of Columbus' cruelty, they are also misled into believing he discovered America. Columbus never set foot in what is today the United States.
More than 80,000 years ago the first settlers crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska. They dispersed throughout North and South America , forming civilizations from the Inuits (Eskimos) to various Native American tribes throughout the Americas. These people were the discoverers of America.
In 1005 the Scandinavian Vikings tried to create a settlement in Vineland (their name for New England). And about 20 years before Columbus' first voyage, Europeans were in Newfoundland. Almost 500 years after the Vikings, Columbus (because of his geographic miscalculations) accidently landed on an island in the Bahamas inhabited by the peaceful Arawaks.
Unfortunately, because of the federal government's misguided acquiescence to publicists attempting to create false history, Columbus Day remains a national holiday. I'm embarrassed that our federal government honors such a person.
Mel Lipman, Las Vegas
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