Was Christopher Columbus actually Italian? Pesan NO.
Italian-Americans and Columbus Day parade participants cheekily dismissed claims Monday that there is new DNA evidence showing the controversial explorer was probably a Sephardic Jew from Spain.
“We don’t care,” said Shelley Corso, who attended the Manhattan parade wearing an Italian flag around her neck.
“He will always be Italian.”
Columbus Day parade participants brazenly ignored research showing the explorer was Jewish. Matthew McDermott
Corso wasn't the only one to slice up the new claim as if it were a cold appetizer.
Everyone from Genoa’s mayor to Italian American heritage groups agreed. “I don’t care what the DNA says, Columbus was as Italian as spaghetti.”
The argument is a new, but not widely held, theory that Columbus hailed from Genoa, an independent republic on the northwest coast of Italy, before sailing on behalf of Spain and “discovering” the New World in 1492. It started with research.
According to the BBC, researchers in Spain extracted DNA from the bones of Columbus’ body and showed that he had Sephardic ancestry, hiding that he was born in Spain and was Jewish, or that he was a religious It was suggested that he converted to Catholicism to avoid persecution.
Thousands of people gathered for the Columbus Day parade. James Messerschmidt Recent DNA evidence suggests that Columbus was descended from Sfaradic Jews, likely from Spain, researchers said. James Messerschmitt
But participants in the Columbus Day parade, where thousands of people dressed in the colors of the Italian flag, danced, waved flags and marched down Fifth Avenue, didn’t seem to mind.
“It doesn’t matter to me as long as we celebrate,” said Diane Di Stazzio, who marched with a giant Italian flag. “Because if he’s Jewish, that’s great, but he’s still Italian. An Italian Jew.”
Cindy Trimble, who came from Cold Spring for the parade, said the Columbus Day parade was canceled entirely because of controversy over explorers’ brutality against indigenous Caribbean people, including sending hundreds of people into slavery. He said he was really glad he didn’t.
“I’m also a strange combination: I’m Sicilian and my mother is Swedish,” she said. “So as long as we celebrate Columbus!”
Governor Hochul participated in the parade waving the Italian flag. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock Young people participating in the parade were decked out in Italian colors. James Messerschmitt James Messerschmitt
“He has discovered America and can be anything he wants,” said an Italian tourist who attended the parade.
The National Italian American Foundation, which supports the Columbus Day holiday as a “source of dignity and self-respect for Italian Americans,” argued that genetic research is not the whole story of history.
NIAF said: “The National Archives of Genoa holds dozens of documents, mostly letters and notarial deeds, that make it possible to claim Columbus’ Genoese origins and reconstruct his entourage.” “DNA tests will never go beyond historical documents,” the group’s statement reads.
