Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness

Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness

Ken Webster is a talk radio personality and producer from Houston, TX. He started his career in Chicago on the Mancow show and has since worked at...Full Bio

 

First they came for the statues

Breaking news: liberals in Houston are attacking the legacy of an honorable ethnic-minority. They care about minorities so much that they're vandalizing the statues of notable minorities in order to prove they love minorities. This is all just another part of the on-going struggle between cultural Marxists and American patriots. 

Make sure you've got your life-preservers handy because right now America is knee-deep in a river of hysteria over so-called racist statues that are upsetting to progressive-liberals (and the waters keep rising). You all know how this started so I'll spare you a long-winded explanation about the violence in Virginia that inspired our nation to argue over whether or not we should rip down historical artifacts. And in the wake of this new wave of anti-Americanism, an unlikely icon from American history has been targeted: America's first ethnic folk hero, Christopher Columbus.

America has come a long way since the days of our Founding Fathers. We might think life is bad for minorities in 2017 but compared to what was happening over a century ago, this is nothing. And back then alleged racism wasn't just limited to tense incidents between police and African-Americans [or neo-Nazis and neo-Commies]. Around the turn of the 20th century Roman Catholics, like Italians and the Irish, were also frequently the target of hate and racism. Despite today's perception that Italians and Irish-Americans are just another part of white-America, that wasn't the common sentiment in the late 19th and early 20th century when the Ku Klux Klan would frequently target Catholics the same way they went after blacks and Jewish people. However the Catholics were eager to defend themselves so Michael J. McGivney, an Irish-American Catholic priest, founded the Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Connecticut in 1882. They chose Christopher Columbus, the first unofficial Catholic-American, as their hero. 

Back before Martin Luther King Jr minorities in the United States had a short list of exemplars they could admire. The first notable icon for minorities in the United States was an olive-toned man from Italy who, despite what you've heard from liberals, advocated for peace and harmony with the indigenous people of the new world. Today liberals will tell you that Colombo killed and raped the American-Indians, but that statement is inaccurate. He was a reasonable person who tried to convince the Queen of Spain to make peace with the people in the New World. And since facts matter, it's relevant to point out that the indigenous people he was referring to weren't even technically Native-Americans. This is because Colombo never landed in what is now the USA. He very likely landed in Haiti, Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. How could he kill Native Americans if he wasn't in America? He couldn't and he didn't. And this is also why we call him a folk-hero. The legend of Christopher Columbus (the idea that he discovered America) is based in truth but not totally accurate. He discovered a land mass near the United States of America, but he didn't technically discover America as we know it today.

But that's not to say that his contribution to modern day society isn't still relevant. And it's also not unerring to say there wasn't violence after Christopher Columbus' men interacted with these natives. However, the basis in which this violence happened is often drastically misunderstood and misreported by the American left. Christopher Columbus wasn't personally the cause of this violence. In fact, he was adamantly opposed to it. Many often forget that Columbus made more than one voyage to the new world. During his first trip he left some of his men behind to try and live harmoniously with the natives. He had high hopes for building a new colony where his people could work and trade with the people of the New World. Before he went on his first trip he convinced the Queen of Spain that his idea would work and, with her blessing, he attempted to make it happen. However, upon returning to the new world on his second voyage, Columbus discovered that all of the men he left behind had been slaughtered by the natives. It was at this time that the Queen of Spain, not the Italian-explorer Christopher Columbus, called for revenge. Most true historians agree that Columbus did not originally want violence. We know this because of diary experts kept by Columbus and his men as well as royal records from the Queen of Spain. Columbus originally simply wanted to trade with the indigenous people and learn from them.  The violence that came later on wasn't what he originally intended to have happen.

Years later the Catholics of America would see the existence of Columbus as previously living evidence to serve as proof that they were just as much a part of America's history as the hateful KKK members who harassed and terrorized them. They were marginalized minorities who saw Columbus as their hero. 

But someone forget to tell American liberals in the 21st century. Not long ago the people of Seattle voted to get rid of Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous People Day. This was supposed to be a slap in the face to white America. And almost three years later that same anti-Catholic sentiment has reared it's ugly head in Houston after a group of vandals defaced the statue of Christopher Columbus in Montrose Park last night. They think they're attack racism, but they're engaging in the exact same behavior they claim to be against.  Christopher Columbus, a man who was once a hero to those targeted by the KKK, is now being targeted by Antifa and progressives. Ironically, it's hard for so-called progressives to understand a basic lesson from our past: if we try to erase our history we're likely to repeat it [which is the opposite of progress]. 



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