As monuments to controversial historic figures fall nationwide — some toppled by protesters, others removed by governments — Stamford officials are seeking a cool approach to a heated debate about downtown’s Christopher Columbus statue. Should it stay or should it go? And what about the name of its home, Columbus Park?

Strong feelings follow repeated protests since a May 25 incident in Minneapolis, in which a Black man, George Floyd, died with his neck under the knee of a white police officer. Statues of Confederate figures have been ripped from their pedestals, and attention has returned to Columbus, the Italian explorer who discovered a “new world” but slaughtered and enslaved indigenous people as he went.