I was appalled, yes appalled, to learn, from the prestigious Smithsonian Magazine, that Amerigo Vespucci, that man for whom America was named, was a pimp from Florence, Italy--a pimp, yes a pimp, who procured women for paying clients and got a cut of the deal. More. Ralph Waldo Emerson wondered back in 1858 how Vespucci "whose highest naval rank was boatswain’s mate in an expedition that never sailed, managed in this lying world to supplant Columbus, and baptize half the earth with his own dishonest name.”
As a result of these revelations, whenever I hear the name America and whenever I pledge to the American flag, I think "liar and pimp." How demeaning this name is to women, to all the Americas, and to the United States of America in particular.
We are left with the obvious question: Should the United States of America be renamed?
I would enthusiastically support renaming the Country except for one problem.
The man who really did, as we know, "discover" America, was Christopher Columbus. And while Amerigo Vespucci was a woman trader, Columbus was a slave trader, so we can't rename America after him. In fact as I write this, Columbus is being dishonored and his statue is being removed from City Hall in San Jose, CA.
What about the native Americans? Who among them could lend his or her name to a re-imagined America? But wait, Native Americans are not native. They crossed into what is now the U.S.A. from the country we now call Russia via a now sunken landmass that crossed the Bering Strait. So, I ask you, should we name our country after a Russian?
I am stumped. I invite you, dear reader, to email your suggestions.
Who is that perfect person for whom our country should be renamed?
