Page A3
SEPT. 30, 1998
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Columbus Sailed The Ocean Blue, Was In 14921
Bv P r o e . M c K in l e y B urt
That was part of the little
d itty we san in the low er
grades of our segregated e l
em entary school in St. Louis,
MO.
We also sang o f the “ Nina,
Pinta and the Santa M aria",
three brave little ships that
carried C hristopher Columbus
and his o ff course companions
to the so-called "New W orld.”
We supposed that the white
kids rocked to the same tune
each O ctober 12, since our
books were th eir hand-m e-
downs.
This is a w ell-ch ro n icled
m is a d v e n tu re ;
C o lu m b u s
sought a route to the ‘East
I n d ie s ’ and its fa b u lo u s
w ealth, but ended up “discov
ering” Am erica. Since the in
habitants o f the New Worlds
found by Europeans possessed
m arkedly inferior firepow er -
if any-their lands were always
described as “ discovered” .
A ctually, Colum bus had not
d isc o v e red ’ A m erica as we
know it to
day. Better put,
we c o u ld use th e p lu ra l
“A m ericas,” referring to the
islands of the C aribbean or
“ W est In d ie s as th ey are
known. Colum bus asked God
to sanctify these new colonies
he seized in the name o f his
patrons, the king and queen o f
Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella.
One m ight raise an eyebrow
at this placing o f the explorer
in a religious context - con
sidering the w ell-docum ented
cruelty of the greedy Spanish
explorers. We have the fo l
lowing from the notes o f C o
lumbus (5) and those of 3 con
tem poraries, as translated by
Cecil Jane.
“Columbus was undoubtedly
deeply imbued with the re li
gious spirit. It is im possible
to read his ex tan t w ritings
w ithout realizing that he was
ever ready to perceive the fin
ger o f God in all that might
come to pass.
He seems to have been a l
most eager to convert the com
monplace into the m iraculous;
he could divine a special d is
pensation o f P rovidence in
every change of w eather and
could see the hand o f the A l
mighty constantly shaping the
course o f his life ” .
“ He was very certain that
nothing ev er h ap p en ed by
chance, that the most trivial
incidents o f everyday e x ist
ence had been fore-ordained
from all eternity. Like St. Joan
before him, he heard voices
and saw visions; like Cromwell
after him, he was profoundly
convinced that he enjoyed the
special protection o f the De
ity, that he was, as a Puritan
field preacher might have ex
pressed it, a chosen v e sse l,’
ordained to be an instrum ent
by m eans of which the high
purposes o f Heaven might be
accom plished.”
These passages are from ,
“The Four Voyages O fC olum -
bus” , T ranslated and edited by
Cecil Jane as cited earlier;
with a very inform ative in tro
duction and maps.
You will find the Spanish
text on one page and the En
glish tran slatio n on the facing
page. O btainable at a very eco
nom ical p rice from . D over
P ublications Inc., 31 East 2nd
Street, M ineola, N.Y. 1 1501
Phone (516) 294-7000 Fax
(516) 742-6953.
The late A frican Am erican
h istorian, John Henrik Clarke
points out that "Colum bus set
in m otion political forces that
established a global system of
exploitation. This system [Co
lonialism and slavery] p ro
duced European World dom i
nation."
Next week, excerpts from
C olum bus’ “ Book of Proph
esies w here he says that he has
found “The Garden of Eden”
(w hile indigenous peoples are
tortured and slaughtered).A lso
how m ajor Am erican figures
in the developm ent of America
in h e r ite d th is v ie w p o in t;
O lm stead, et al, and the envi
ronm entalist. and C olum bus’
verification o f an earlier A fri
can p re se n c e , arrow heads
from G hana-Olm eca heads.
Safety Belt
A t Record
High
A statew id e survey com
p le te d in A u g u st show s a
record num ber o f Oregonians-
87%- using safety belts.
The new figure represents
a two p ercen t increase from
last y e a r’s survey, according
to C arla L evinski, occupant
p ro tectio n program m anager
for the O regon D epartm ent o f
T ra n sp o rta tio n . “ The high
use ra te u n d o u b te d ly w ill
keep O regon among the top
three or four belt-u se states
in the co u n try ,” Levinski said.
O reg o n ’s high use rate is
a ttrib u ted to its prim ary law,
m eaning an o fficer can make
a traffic stop sp ecifically for
failure to use safety belts or
child safety seats. In ad d i
tio n , O regon p a rtn e rs w ith
W ashington and B ritish C o
lum bia in an in te rn a tio n a l
safety belt enforcem ent cam
paign. The cam paign features
10-day periods throughout the
year when o ffic ers concen
trate on enforcing safety belt
laws. They also enforce DUII
and speeding laws at the same
tim e.
S ep tem b er’s effort will em
p h a s iz e c h ild p a s s e n g e r
safety, L evinski said. “ O r
egon law req u ires children
under 4 years old and w eigh
ing less than 40 pounds to be
in an approved child safety
s e a t,” said L evinski.
Process o f
Changing
ZIP Codes
The S ta te o f O re g o n is
w o r k in g w ith th e U .S .
P o stal S e rv ic e to change the
ZIP c o d e s fo r Salem area
s ta te a g e n c ie s from the p r e
v io u s s in g le “ u n iq u e ZIP
c o d e " 9 7 3 1 0 to the c o rre c t
Z IP
code
fro
each
d e p a r tm e n t’ s p h y s ic a l a d
d re ss.
U n d e r th e u n iq u e Z IP
code s y s te m , m ail for all
s ta te a g e n c ie s is d e liv e re d
by the P o s ta l S e rv ic e to the
D e p a rtm e n t o f A d m in is tra
tiv e S e r v i c e s in S a le m ,
so rte d fo r d e liv e ry to each
o f 2 1 9 a g e n c ie s . S ta te em
p lo y e e s th e n d e li v e r the
m ail via a c o u rie r sy stem to
the a p p ro p r ia te a g e n c ie s.
T he c h a n g e in d e liv e ry
w ill r e s u lt in the a g e n c ie s
r e c e iv in g th e ir m ail fa s te r
and re d u c e w o rk h o u rs in
v o lv ed w ith h a n d lin g sta te
m ail.
M a ile r s w ith q u e s tio n s
ab o u t the c o rre c t ZIP co d es
for s ta te a g e n cy a d d re s s e s
m ay c a ll the s ta te in fo rm a -
traveled by
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