I don’t necessarily oppose the Los Angeles City Council’s replacement of Columbus Day with “Indigenous People’s Day” on the city calendar — I’ve always thought a “John Smith Day” or “John Winthrop Day” would be more appropriate of an American holiday, and the Italian Americans the holiday was originally meant to appease are now thoroughly integrated into American society — but I don’t really support the measure either. Let me explain.

Christopher Columbus was personally responsible for innumerable crimes against the Taino Indians of Santo Domingo. He enslaved and murdered countless numbers of them in his lust for gold and land. His fateful landing made possible the subsequent wars and plagues that killed millions of the Americas’ original inhabitants during the European conquest. It’s all true.