The proposal to take down the statue of Columbus in Easton is rather silly. Columbus, no matter what his shortcomings, and they were many, did change the course of history like few other people have done. Some of the damage he did was inadvertent (the introduction of European diseases), although he certainly mistreated Native Americans. (We might contrast him with a contemporary, the Spanish priest Bartolomé de las Casas, a defender of Native Americans.)

My problem with the people who want to pull down his statue is more practical. Right now the group with the highest proportion of COVID-19 deaths is not Latinos or African-Americans, it is Native Americans.

Native Americans are losing sacred grounds to mining, fracking interests and pipelines. They have the lowest life expectancy of American groups. They have a very high level of poverty. States try to suppress their votes. Treaties are still being broken. High school athletic teams continue to call themselves “Indians” with no understanding of the culture, religion or language of the Indians who once lived in their area. Forget Christopher Columbus.

Do something to help those Native Americans who need help right now, in 2020.

Sincerely,

Roy Christman,

Lehighton