My generation was taught that in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, and discovered America. Stan Freberg, a clever satirist, challenged that notion in 1961 when he cut an album featuring his take on that event. In his version, Columbus waded onto an island and announced he had discovered the New World.

About that time, a couple of native people walked up to him and said he was wrong. They claimed they had discovered him. I suppose that depends upon your point of view, said Columbus.

While Columbus Day is still a federal holiday, many are pushing for a way to honor the native side of the American story. That is why last Monday, many celebrated Columbus Day and others, Indigenous Peoples Day. Depending on your point of view, it was a triumph, or tragedy, or both.

Columbus and his followers immediately clashed with American native peoples, much to the joy of the Europeans. Not so for the natives, who almost immediately were presented with diseases they were not used to, including smallpox, measles, whooping cough, etc. Some estimate that the diseases killed as many as 90% of the natives.

We all know how the Spanish army followed up Columbus’ discoveries by conquering the South American Inca and Mayan native empires in their quest for gold and silver. But the Europeans got more than riches. They got food, lots of it, including new staple crops, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, cassava, tomatoes, chili peppers, cacao, peanuts and tobacco.

These crops soon became a staple food source for much of Europe. By the mid-1580s, the Spanish branched out from South America, sailing west to the Philippines. They established a commercial center in Manila and traded Andean precious metals and chili peppers for Chinese porcelain, silk, and other goods.
Sadly, we are still caught in an East/West culture clash as world leaders elbow for power and territory as their merchants trade foodstuffs and modern electronics.

A modern version of the clash between American settlers and Indian cultures is the subject of a movie scheduled to open at Harbor Theater on Oct. 20. It is called “Killers of the Flower Moon,” based upon David Granns' 2017 best seller of the same name. In the early 19th century, Osage Indians, like other tribes, were forced from their ancestral land in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and Kansas and resettled in the barren hills of Oklahoma.

In an 1887 treaty, they lost ownership of those hill country lands, but the tribe retained the mineral rights. When they discovered oil on the barren Osage land in 1897, the treaty backfired, and the Osage tribe and its members became one of the wealthiest communities in the world.

This newfound wealth generated jealousy as the Osage built fine homes, bought expensive cars, and sent their children to European boarding schools.  Soon, crooks and schemers from away figured out how to get their hands on the Osage people's riches by any means, including wholesale murder. The Jan. 17, 1926 edition of the New York Times described the conflict this way: Seldom in the long history of the white man's dubious dealings with the Indian has there been such a determined combination of craft and violence.

While local law enforcement was reluctant to intervene, the new Federal Bureau of Investigation moved in and solved its first big case.

The “Killers” movie, which has won praise around the world, was directed by Martin Scorsese. The pundits say it is on track to win Oscars.

Another culture clash: In case you have been spending these lovely fall days grubbing in your garden, a patch that gave up few veggies this year, the national news has spent days trumpeting another major political culture clash. The Republican party’s majority in the U.S. House of Representatives is in turmoil, to say the least.

The Wall Street Journal put it this way: A band of eight Republicans succeeded in ousting Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker on Tuesday, and we trust they're happy. They now have the chaos they wanted, though it isn't clear what else they hope to achieve. Their clever plan seems to be to cut off their own heads.

In State Legislatures and Congress, Republicans and Democrats often clash with their own party members over goals, policies, and political objectives. In most cases, these squabbles, some of them bitter, are ironed out behind closed doors. In this case, Republican members are parading before the TV cameras spouting vitriol against their GOP colleagues using words like heresy and treason.

As they continue to rant, it seems likely they won’t kiss and make up in the near future. As I have said before, fasten your seat belts. It is going to be a bumpy ride.