To the editor:

Chad Lawhorn’s article of Oct. 5 on the suggested name change for Columbus Day had a major historical generality that went unchallenged. Many (including yours truly) would agree with Margaret Stevens’ comment that what happened to the Native Americans here subsequent to the arrival of the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria easily fits the definition of genocide, but to tack blame to Christopher Columbus for events that followed soon after his arrival and over the next few hundred years is disingenuous at best. To state that Columbus committed “one of the greatest acts of genocide in history” was wildly off the mark and should have been challenged in the story.

Certainly Columbus’ discovery of the (for Europeans) New World ushered in an era of exploitation, abuse and eventual downfall of the ancient cultures already established before his arrival and thus he should share some culpability for the era he helped usher in. Certainly Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin can lay claim to that infamous score for the millions that died during their reigns. The reporter would do readers well to present all of a story’s arguments, not just the one that was the driver of the story in the first place.

David L. Teska,

Lawrence