There is an old saying that you should never meet your heroes, because they will have feet of clay.

The only alternative to "reevaluating" our ancient heroes is to continue to pretend that the "geat" deeds they accomplished came at no cost.

Columbus was a white supremicist, child-raping, brutal slaver and imperialist. Without those horrific personal qualities, Columbus' report back to Europe after "discovering" America would have been, "Landed and discovered there are already people here. We made a few trades, left them alone, and have sailed on." The end.

I am 100% sure that the indigenous people of the 15th century Caribbean and North America "valued" their lives and freedom as much as we do today.

I can recognize that Columbus was a product of his time without celebrating him. 19th century US slaveholders were also products of their time, as was early 20th century Adolf Hitler. I don't want national holidays for them, either.