Notre Dame Hides “Demeaning” Mural Celebrating Christopher Columbus

For several years, the left has targeted the heroes of United States history in their ongoing effort to transform this nation into a weak, socialist, servile land of homosexuality and immorality. Recently, that effort has begun gaining immense traction. They started by tearing down statues of courageous Confederate soldiers who contributed their blood and sweat to the preservation of the South. They moved on to the Founding Fathers, many of whom are now seen as little more than racist slaveowners who never cared a whit for anyone other than whites. And they are now moving on to the very beginning, brainwashing the nation into believing that in a history of evil men, Christopher Columbus was right up there with Adolf Hitler.

And so we have it that the University of Notre Dame has announced that they will permanently cover up a mural of Columbus that has been displayed on campus since 1884. Because somehow, in 2019, we are too enlightened to bear the image of a man this nation treated as a hero for the last five hundred years.

“As we prepare to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Notre Dame, I write to let you know of a recent decision,” said UND President John Jenkins in a campus-wide email this weekend. “The murals by Luigi Gregori that adorn the ceremonial entrance to Notre Dame’s Main Building depict the life and exploration of Christopher Columbus.” 

Jenkins informed the students that the mural was initially commissioned to make Catholic immigrants feel at home in the United States.

“In recent years, however, many have come to see the murals as at best blind to the consequences of Columbus’ voyage for the indigenous peoples who inhabited this ‘new’ world and at worst demeaning toward them,” Jenkins wrote. “Whatever else Columbus’ arrival brought, for these peoples it led to exploitation, expropriation of land, repression of vibrant cultures, enslavement, and new diseases causing epidemics that killed millions.”

Whatever else Columbus’ arrival brought?

No. You cannot simply waive away this man’s achievements and his monumental legacy with a hand wave and a “whatever else.” Whatever else Columbus’ arrival brought is the greatest country in the history of the world. It is a higher standard of living for the planet than had ever before been seen on this globe. It is to speak of space exploration, the curing of ages-old disease, the expansion of life expectancy, and so many other wonders too numerous to count.

Does that balance out what was done to Native Americans? No, that’s not what we’re saying. But nor is the opposite true. Everyone alive and thriving in this country (and the rest of Western Civilization) owes a debt of unending gratitude to Columbus and the explorers and colonialists who followed in his footsteps. Without those men, the world today would be utterly unrecognizable.

We can pay homage to the Native people of America without this kind of self-flagellating, suicidal hatred.