How did Christopher Columbus, the man who first brutalized the inhabitants of the New World, become a hero in a nation guilty of its own atrocities against Indigenous peoples? A generation raised on instant access to information is asking that question and challenging his place in American culture. The debate is reignited every second Monday in October, when imperialism, colonialism, racism, greed, religion, human rights, environmentalism and education all take center stage around one of America’s most controversial and enduring symbols.