Preserve Columbus Day: It Is Our Heritage

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Editorial

QUESTION #3: AN END RUN AROUND TOWN MEETING:

            In this year’s town election, voters will be asked to approve or reject a bid to establish October 12th as Indigenous People’s Day, superseding local references to Columbus Day (Question # 3).  In October 2020, this issue raised its head at fall town meeting.  A petitioner brought forth an extended resolution, representing it as, a “counter-celebration” intended to morally condemn Columbus Day, both internationally and domestically.   In essence, the resolution sought to turn the commemoration of Columbus’s discovery of America, an event directly linked to the founding of our nation, into a condemnation of European settlement on this continent.

            The resolution met strong opposition.  While opponents acknowledged the injustices done to indigenous people, they also recognized and objected to what was clearly an attempt to discredit the founding of the United States, by irreparably associating it with slavery and genocide. Columbus Day should be recognized because it was one of the most significant discoveries in human history, a discovery that ultimately led to a nation, which threw off its own chains of imperial oppression, sacrificed considerable blood and suffering to end slavery, and then saved the world from greatest white supremacy threat in history, the Third Reich.

            During the town meeting, the petitioner’s resolution was defeated but a follow-up resolution was immediately offered by one of the opponents, recognizing indigenous people’s day, but on a different date. The new resolution sought to celebrate it on March 4th, Andrew Jackson’s birthday. Jackson, as President, orchestrated the infamous “trail of tears” forcibly relocating the Cherokee people and other tribes west of the Mississippi river. This blatantly racist policy was initiated after a hard-fought debate in Congress, in which our own John Quincy Adams led the opposition.  It should be Jackson, whose name should be linked to racism.

This resolution was referred by Town Meeting to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee for review and action. The committee disingenuously ignored the resolution and with the Select Board’s ascent, exploited the referral to resurrect the original measure through an unprecedented end run around town meeting. This question is not by citizen’s petition. Some DEI committee members have openly admitted their intent is to confront Columbus Day. Is it really necessary to recognize one people by dishonoring another? Question # 3 was conceived in bad faith and should be rejected.

Submitted By Dennis Galvin

Preserve Our History – Vote NO on Ballot Question 3

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We encourage you to vote NO on ballot question 3, which proposes to remove Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day.

As an immigrant who escaped communist China, I am concerned about the increasing trend of cancel culture, which echoes the destructive Chinese Cultural Revolution that took place in the last century. During those tumultuous years, historical monuments were destroyed, and traditional holidays were banned. This movement seems to have found its way to the US, with ballot questions like this one arising from a very biased perspective on history.

It’s important to acknowledge that when Columbus arrived in the Caribbean, slavery was already practiced by the indigenous peoples[1].

Columbus’s logs reveal his insistence on fair treatment for the people he encountered, and he even established policies to enforce this[2].

Columbus was brought back to Spain in chains for punishing Spaniards who failed to comply with these policies.

The conquest of the Americas by Spanish conquistadors, often cited as a genocide, began 13 years after Columbus’s death. If he were alive, he might have condemned these actions.

Our country was built on the principles of truth and forgiveness, not lies and hatred.

We invite you to support our efforts to preserve Columbus Day by signing our petition at:

https://ourfight.online/SaveColumbusDay01886

To contribute to our campaign, 
please send a check payable to:

Save Columbus Day 01886
135 Westview Drive
Westford, MA 01886

Don’t forget to vote on May 2nd.

Submitted by Raymond Xie
Former State Rep Candidate of Massachusetts
Current Member of the Westford Republican Town Committee
References:
[1] The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), By Dr. ANDRÉS RESÉNDEZ, professor of history, University of California, Davis. This book was a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award and winner of the 2017 Bancroft Prize from Columbia University. 
[2] Christopher Columbus, "Journal of the First Voyage of Columbus," in Journal of Christopher Columbus (during his first voyage, 149293), 
and Documents Relating to the Voyages of John Cabot and Gaspar Corte Real, edited and translated by Clements R. Markham 
(London: Hakluyt Society, 1893), 15-193.

GOP Must Adapt to New Voting Landscape

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by Matt Murphy with help from Keith Regan, MASSterList

As it stands, there will be five new senators and 22 new representatives when the Legislature gavels into a new session in January.

All but one – Wrentham’s Marcus Vaughn – are Democrats.

Secretary of State William Galvin, himself a Democrat who is poised to begin his eighth term as the state’s top elections official, said Sunday that in both Massachusetts and other states around the country Republicans need to adapt to the changing voting landscape.

In Georgia, for instance, Galvin said U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock benefited in his runoff victory from strong voter turnout, which was aided by opportunities for voters to cast ballots early.

Early voting participation, particularly mail-in voting, has been lower among Republicans in Massachusetts than with Democrats. You can thank Trump for that. Some in the MassGOP are now pushing for the party to drop its opposition to mail-in voting and instead develop a strategy to use it to their advantage, as Democrats have.

“Republicans, whatever their resistance in the past, they have to overcome it if they’re going to compete,” Galvin told WCVB during his Sunday appearance on “On the Record.”

Despite the use of mail-in voting dropping off in the 2022 election from 2020, Galvin predicted it will only grow in popularity as the system becomes more refined and accepted. He also said he will renew his push in the new session for same-day voter registration, which would add another wrinkle to the process for parties and candidates to adjust to.

Thirty-seven percent of the ballots cast in November arrived by mail, while another 8 percent were cast early in-person.

“Most people here and around the country, I think, are choosing to be unaffiliated with any major party and vote, which reinforces the idea that people should have the right to vote any way they can,” Galvin said.

The Brighton Democrat also repeated his calls made last week for the Legislature to sequester funds raised through the voter-approved “millionaires tax” in a trust so that voters can see exactly how it gets spent on education and transportation. He also would like to see lawmakers create exemption from the new tax for senior, income-eligible residents on the value of a home sale.

He hasn’t even started his eighth term. But already the questions have started about the 72-year-old seeking an unprecedented ninth four-year term in 2026.

“I couldn’t answer that question,” Galvin said.

Boston Pays High Price for Religious Viewpoint Discrimination

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Nov 28, 2022

BOSTON, MA – Today, Liberty Counsel received a check from the City of Boston for $2,125,000 in final settlement of the Christian flag case.When the Christian flag finally flew on the Boston City Hall Plaza public forum flagpole after five years of litigation and a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Shurtleff v. City of Boston, Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver stated, “When I argued this case before the U.S. Supreme Court on January 18, I realized that the city was in deep trouble. Justice Breyer and Justice Kagan asked the city attorney arguing the case ‘why did you not settle this case?’ I knew we had a big win.”

Now the City of Boston has finally “settled” this case after the 9-0 Supreme Court ruling and paid Liberty Counsel $2,125,000.00 for attorney’s fees and costs for the unconstitutional religious viewpoint discrimination of the Christian flag.

The Shurtleff case is having a big impact nationally. Many municipalities are reconsidering their flag policies. But far beyond the flag, Shurtleff set in motion the overturning of a 51-year-old case known as Lemon v. Kurtzman.

The Justices commented on the longstanding “Lemon Test” which has been used to determine if a law violates the First Amendment. This test has proven to be unworkable and has led to inconsistent and contradictory decisions on the constitutionality of 10 Commandment monuments and cross monuments like the “Peace Cross.”

Justice Gorsuch joined in a concurrence with Justice Thomas and stated, “It’s time to let Lemon lie in its grave.”

Justice Gorsuch continued, “How did the city get it so wrong? To be fair, at least some of the blame belongs here and traces back to Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U. S. 602 (1971). Issued during a ‘bygone era’ when this Court took a more freewheeling approach to interpreting legal texts, Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, 588 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 8), Lemon sought to devise a one-size-fits-all test for resolving Establishment Clause disputes. That project bypassed any inquiry into the Clause’s original meaning. It ignored longstanding precedents. And instead of bringing clarity to the area, Lemon produced only chaos. In time, this Court came to recognize these problems, abandoned Lemon, and returned to a more humble jurisprudence centered on the Constitution’s original meaning. Yet in this case, the city chose to follow Lemon anyway. It proved a costly decision, and Boston’s travails supply a cautionary tale for other localities and lower courts. The only sure thing Lemon yielded was new business for lawyers and judges.”

“Ultimately, Lemon devolved into a kind of children’s game. Start with a Christmas scene, a menorah, or a flag. Then pick your own ‘reasonable observer’ avatar. In this game, the avatar’s default settings are lazy, uninformed about history, and not particularly inclined to legal research. His default mood is irritable. To play, expose your avatar to the display and ask for his reaction. How does he feel about it? Mind you: Don’t ask him whether the proposed display actually amounts to an establishment of religion. Just ask him if he feels it ‘endorses’ religion. If so, game over,” wrote Gorsuch.

Liberty Counsel represents Boston resident Hal Shurtleff and his Christian civic organization, Camp Constitution. Shurtleff and Camp Constitution first asked the city in 2017 for a permit to raise the Christian flag on the “public forum” Boston City Hall flagpole to commemorate Constitution Day and Citizenship Day (September 17) and the civic and cultural contributions of the Christian community to the city of Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, religious tolerance, the Rule of Law and the U.S. Constitution.  For 12 years, from 2005 to 2017, Boston approved 284 flag raisings by private organizations with no denials on the flagpoles that it designated a “public forum.” However, the city official denied Camp Constitution’s application in 2017 to fly the Christian flag on Constitution Day.

The policy stated that the flagpole was open to all applicants, but the City of Boston denied Hal Shurtleff’s application for the sole reason that the application form referred to the flag as a “Christian” flag. Had the application used any other non-religious word, Boston would have granted the request.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The City of Boston has learned a costly lesson and paid a high price for religious viewpoint discrimination. Government cannot censor religious viewpoints under the guise of government speech. The freedom to express religious viewpoints has been made easier thanks to the Christian flag case. And the ‘Lemon test’ can no longer be used as a sword of censorship.”

Liberty Counsel provides broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost. http://lc.org