Politics and Culture

The ambivalence or hostility towards Columbus Day is due to three factors: One is sincere concern for those hurt in the collision between the two cultures. (Certainly, the barbarity of the New World with its human sacrifices and cannibalism [slavery's a wash] would still exist if the Spanish were mere trade partners instead of conquerors. At least until the Muslims managed to get on shore.).

Related is the triumph of feelings over historical significance and respect for old-fashioned values like bravery: Columbus just doesn't tug on the heart strings, and Americans are too comfortable to appreciate the man responsible for our abundance.

Finally, we have a tilt towards the passive liberator of the oppressed from the expander and conqueror. Martin Luther King is the epitome of the non-violent liberator. Washington and Lincoln are in-between in that they both fought and liberated. Fremont, from here in California was a trailblazer.

That's also why the do-nothing, lying supporter of Jim Jones, Harvey Milk, and Cesar Chavez, a genuinely good guy and hero to many in the labor movement, each get a day in California and not Fremont or any of the other significant figures in California history.

Some historical figures, like Che Guevara, enslave and kill, but are still a heroes to leftists. In the case of Che, leftists maintain Che's hero status because they have sympathy for his cause, anti-American leftism. Most leftists just don't know that the facts- they think that Che liberated people (of their property and freedom, in reality).