My
letter to the Boston Globe
|
Two friends of mine alerted me to the article published on the “Boston Globe”, August 6, 2001, written by David Arnold, entitled “Making (up?) History”. This article has a subtitle: “Little hard evidence seen to support claims on some historical monuments.”
Obviously this writer specializes in belittling several historical sites in the State of Massachusetts, unless he wants to stimulate open discussion on these various subjects. If that is the case, he can, to a certain extent, be forgiven.
Concerning Dighton
Rock he makes three points when he wrote, and I quote:
(First point) -- “In the town of Berkley, the 40 ton “Dighton Rock” encased in glass and its own building, has an entire park named after it because cryptic carvings in the sandstone indicate (one theory) that the Viking ruffian Thorfinn Kalsefni slept thereabouts”.
Furthered in the same article Mr. Arnold returns to Dighton Rock stating:
(Second point) -- “And no one knows for sure how old carvings got etched into Dighton Rock. Interpretations are as varies as the immigrant cultures that have passed through the Fall River area. For example, a Danish scholar in 1837 pronounced that he saw the marks of Vikings and a Portuguese professor in 1918 saw “clearly and undoubtedly” markings left behind by one Captain Miguel Corte Real of Lisbon”.
(Third point) – “ Plymouth Rock is a national icon visited by ten of thousands annually; Dighton Rock, despite its chapel-like shrine, is lucky to attract the curiosity of a passing jogger”.
It is obvious that Mr. David Arnold based himself in the discoveries of Dighton Rock made by Professor Delabarre in 1918, there is, 83 years ago. He reveals really his ignorance by calling Professor Delabarre a Portuguese professor, when, indeed, Edmund Burke Delabarre did not have one single drop of Portuguese blood. He was a Professor of Psychology at Brown University, in Providence, RI. His ascendants were emigrants from Belgium, in the early 1800s.
Because articles like this cause more a harm than good to the general public, I decided to write a letter to the Editor of the Boston Globe.
August 10, 2001
Letters
to the Editor
The
Boston Globe
P.
O. Box 2378
Boston,
MA 02107-2378
Dear
Editor:
I
read with much interest “Making (up?) History” by David Arnold (Boston
Globe, Aug. 6-01). Concerning
the Dighton Rock story, it is obvious that the writer based himself on the
information eighty years old!
He does not know the shape of the Portuguese coat of arms “V” and “U”, neither does he know the shape of the Portuguese Cross of the Order of Christ with 45 degree extremities. Therefore he was not able to see these symbols engraved on the face of the Dighton Rock. But that is no surprise because even today the American Encyclopedias have no information about the Portuguese national symbols!
We do not need any papyrus, nor any sheep skin document to prove that the Portuguese inscriptions are engraved on Dighton Rock. The inscriptions themselves are the archaeological evidence of that theory. The only thing one needs is to be familiar with format of those Portuguese symbols in order to recognize them very easily engraved on the face of the rock.
The reason why there are so few visitors to the Dighton Rock Museum is because it is closed NINE months out of the year. Everyone says that Massachusetts is the cradle of the American History, but the Legislators have not approved yet the funds for a permanent curator of that museum to be open all year round for the general public, especially the youth.
The best example of disregard towards the Dighton Rock is the fact that “The Friends of Dighton Rock Museum” (non-profit organization) has invited every Governor of the Commonwealth, since 1963, and NONE has yet had the curiosity of visiting this historical monument. It is a shame!
Respectfully,
Manuel Luciano
da Silva, M. D.
P. S. Enclosed I am sending you a copy of my biography. Also a copy of an article published by the “Fall River Herald News”, in quite contrast with the article by David Arnold.
If you want to see my book “Portuguese Pilgrims and Dighton Rock., 1971, just click on my website. I have my entire book there. You must have also a copy in your library an several articles on your files concerning my historical original researches.
So far the Boston Globe has not published this letter. We will wait to see if the Boston Newspaper exercises fair and just journalism.