A contradiction: it is misguided and unfair to judge historical figures under contemporary standards; yet historical judgement is virtually all that modernity offers us to measure human action. Christopher Columbus and his statue in front of Worcester’s Union Station epitomize the dilemma Columbus’ long shadow sheds on the exploration of the American continents and the world.

Is Columbus to be celebrated or shunned? Is he to be admired as one of the greatest, smartest and most courageous explorers the world has ever known, and a hero, or is he to be condemned or “cancelled” as a violent European conqueror who brought colonialism and white superiority to new heights — degrading and destroying indigenous cultures, leaving devastation, slavery and death in his wake?