Manahattan-Ny Times

Omega Sirius Moon celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day in New York in 2015. Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Good morning.

Long before Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, indigenous New Yorkers lived on an island they called Manahahtaan.

And thousands of Native Americans are still living in the New York area.

There are Aztecs and Mayans in Sunset Park and Mohawks in Bay Ridge. There are Shinnecock, Unkechaug and Ramapough in our suburbs.

So today, New Yorkers are celebrating both Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day.

But in the wake of the violence this summer in Charlottesville, Va., sparked by a white supremacist rally protesting the removal of a Confederate general’s statue, New York City is deep in its own debate about who we should (and should not) memorialize in 2017, and what to do about statues seen, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, as “oppressive and inconsistent with the values of New York City.”

And Columbus, long the honoree of this October holiday and the namesake for one of our city’s most famous thoroughfares, is at the center of that debate.

“Columbus was instrumental in creating the trans-Atlantic slave trade,” said Cliff Matias, the director of the Redhawk Native American Arts Council. “He massacred, raped and pillaged hundreds of thousands of Taino Indians, committing crimes against humanity at such a high rate. So when we have a Christopher Columbus statue up anywhere, we’re honoring a criminal.”

Yet in a city filled with Italian-Americans and rich with Italian traditions, many New Yorkers revere the explorer as a symbol of their heritage.

“It’s not about Christopher Columbus,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said of the holiday. “It’s about the millions of Italian-Americans who came to this country under hard circumstances and made it what it is.”

While some historians have warned against removing statues and monuments, out of the need to preserve history, others say the time is now.

Elizabeth Ellis, a professor of early American and native history at N.Y.U., and a citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, described these public spaces as snapshots of what’s important to our society.

“Historically, we have to remember that we create monuments and holidays as elements of national mythmaking, as ways to celebrate our heritage,” she said. “You can see the founding of the U.S. in many ways, but I think our national understanding of who we are and what matters changes over time.”

“You can never erase history,” Mr. Matias added, “but you can pick who in history we honor.”

Los Angeles County, Seattle, Denver and Albuquerque have already replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. New York, at least for now, will continue celebrating both.

Here’s what else is happening: