As we’ve seen over the past week, many protests that started as a public outcry against the officers involved in the death of George Floyd rapidly devolved into anti-cop, anti-American, destructive riots. For some reason, Christopher Columbus is often the target of angry people who clearly skipped history classes when they were in school.

Columbus is one of the great historical figures responsible for changing the world for the better. Every year around Columbus Day, I task myself with writing an article to explain his accomplishments in order to educate people and hopefully preserve the appropriate holiday and monuments dedicated to what he represents for Italian Americans and Americans in general.