Post by Okwes on Oct 2, 2006 17:48:00 GMT -5
High hopes in place for Columbus Day
By Al Knight
Denver Post Columnist
www.denverpost.com
It's just possible that this year, for the first time in 15 years,
Columbus Day might be celebrated in Denver without the elaborate street
theater aimed at vilifying the man credited with "discovering America."
Should that possibility be realized, it would help erase a dreadful
chapter in Denver's history. That history was peppered with numerous
instances in which city leaders were hopelessly confused about free
speech, freedom of assembly and what rights belonged to the parade
sponsors and to those protesting the parade.
As recently as last year, Denver police stopped the Columbus Day Parade
and allowed protesters to engage in street theater before permitting the
parade to continue. Guess what outcry there would be if the police
similarly suspended the free speech and assembly rights of, say, Gay
Pride marchers?
But now is not the time for recriminations, since things have been
looking up for Christopher Columbus and for those who wish to
acknowledge his considerable accomplishments. On the other hand, it
hasn't been a good year for those who were dedicated to eliminating the
Denver parade.
Ward Churchill, the discredited University of Colorado professor and
self-identified Indian, is a longtime member of the anti-Columbus Day
protest. But he is, thankfully, quite busy these days defending himself
against a committee recommendation that he be fired for what amounts to
academic misconduct.
Churchill's long-running difficulties with the university, and the
obvious excesses of his claims, made him the symbol for the belief that
Columbus was somehow responsible for every ill that has developed in the
Western world for the last 500 years.
Coloradans presumably have had a chance to rethink their own attitudes
toward the annual parade, and perhaps are much more likely to
participate in the absence of a promised disruption and threats of
violence.
It's a certainty that the local protests failed to ignite anything
approaching a national protest. Other communities, notably New York,
continue to celebrate the occasion without serious incident.
Denver's parade will begin this year at 10 a.m. on Oct. 7 and the route
will again allow marchers to pass directly in front of the state Capitol.
The run-up to the parade will also be different. Dr. David Yeagley of
Lawton, Okla., a member of the Comanche tribe and an accomplished
pianist, composer and lyricist, has requested an opportunity to speak in
support of the local
celebration. He will spend several days in Denver before the parade,
although a prior commitment will keep him from marching in the parade
itself.
Yeagley, in a telephone interview Monday, said he wants to do his part
to counterbalance the notion that all Indians take a dim view of the
Columbus Day celebrations and the man himself. He said he believes that
Columbus is an important part of the American story.
In written comments to the parade committee, Yeagley said, "I want
Indians who protest Columbus to re-evaluate the effect of long-term
resentments. I want them to weigh the psychological damage that negative
thinking has on young people, how it stifles their natural ambitions,
their intuitive aspirations. I want Indians instead to lead in American
patriotism and to recover the true role in American society of host,
guide and savior."
Yeagley, it should be noted, is a political conservative and a regular
contributor to the website frontpagemag.com. In 2003, he asked the New
York parade committee for permission to help lead the parade but was
turned down. "New York didn't have an Indian problem and wanted to avoid
those issues," he now says. He adds that he has long been interested in
what has been happening in Denver and this year decided to offer his
assistance.
The Denver Columbus Day Parade Committee itself has made it a goal to
widen participation in the event. In a posting on YourHub.com, it says
the day should remind "each one of us of the blood, sweat and tears our
ancestors shed so that we might live and enjoy our lives in the land of
the free."
If it also demonstrates a return to a local spirit of tolerance and a
deeper understanding of the tradition of free speech and assembly, so
much the better.
/Al Knight of Fairplay (alknight@mindspring.com
<mailto:alknight@mindspring.com>) is a former member of The Post's
editorial-page staff. His column appears on Wednesdays./
By Al Knight
Denver Post Columnist
www.denverpost.com
It's just possible that this year, for the first time in 15 years,
Columbus Day might be celebrated in Denver without the elaborate street
theater aimed at vilifying the man credited with "discovering America."
Should that possibility be realized, it would help erase a dreadful
chapter in Denver's history. That history was peppered with numerous
instances in which city leaders were hopelessly confused about free
speech, freedom of assembly and what rights belonged to the parade
sponsors and to those protesting the parade.
As recently as last year, Denver police stopped the Columbus Day Parade
and allowed protesters to engage in street theater before permitting the
parade to continue. Guess what outcry there would be if the police
similarly suspended the free speech and assembly rights of, say, Gay
Pride marchers?
But now is not the time for recriminations, since things have been
looking up for Christopher Columbus and for those who wish to
acknowledge his considerable accomplishments. On the other hand, it
hasn't been a good year for those who were dedicated to eliminating the
Denver parade.
Ward Churchill, the discredited University of Colorado professor and
self-identified Indian, is a longtime member of the anti-Columbus Day
protest. But he is, thankfully, quite busy these days defending himself
against a committee recommendation that he be fired for what amounts to
academic misconduct.
Churchill's long-running difficulties with the university, and the
obvious excesses of his claims, made him the symbol for the belief that
Columbus was somehow responsible for every ill that has developed in the
Western world for the last 500 years.
Coloradans presumably have had a chance to rethink their own attitudes
toward the annual parade, and perhaps are much more likely to
participate in the absence of a promised disruption and threats of
violence.
It's a certainty that the local protests failed to ignite anything
approaching a national protest. Other communities, notably New York,
continue to celebrate the occasion without serious incident.
Denver's parade will begin this year at 10 a.m. on Oct. 7 and the route
will again allow marchers to pass directly in front of the state Capitol.
The run-up to the parade will also be different. Dr. David Yeagley of
Lawton, Okla., a member of the Comanche tribe and an accomplished
pianist, composer and lyricist, has requested an opportunity to speak in
support of the local
celebration. He will spend several days in Denver before the parade,
although a prior commitment will keep him from marching in the parade
itself.
Yeagley, in a telephone interview Monday, said he wants to do his part
to counterbalance the notion that all Indians take a dim view of the
Columbus Day celebrations and the man himself. He said he believes that
Columbus is an important part of the American story.
In written comments to the parade committee, Yeagley said, "I want
Indians who protest Columbus to re-evaluate the effect of long-term
resentments. I want them to weigh the psychological damage that negative
thinking has on young people, how it stifles their natural ambitions,
their intuitive aspirations. I want Indians instead to lead in American
patriotism and to recover the true role in American society of host,
guide and savior."
Yeagley, it should be noted, is a political conservative and a regular
contributor to the website frontpagemag.com. In 2003, he asked the New
York parade committee for permission to help lead the parade but was
turned down. "New York didn't have an Indian problem and wanted to avoid
those issues," he now says. He adds that he has long been interested in
what has been happening in Denver and this year decided to offer his
assistance.
The Denver Columbus Day Parade Committee itself has made it a goal to
widen participation in the event. In a posting on YourHub.com, it says
the day should remind "each one of us of the blood, sweat and tears our
ancestors shed so that we might live and enjoy our lives in the land of
the free."
If it also demonstrates a return to a local spirit of tolerance and a
deeper understanding of the tradition of free speech and assembly, so
much the better.
/Al Knight of Fairplay (alknight@mindspring.com
<mailto:alknight@mindspring.com>) is a former member of The Post's
editorial-page staff. His column appears on Wednesdays./