As protests against systemic racism and police brutality continue in the country, statues depitcing Confederate leaders and Christopher Columbus are once again coming under scrutiny. 

Columbus statues in some cities have been damaged or defaced, and Boston removed its statute of the explorer from a park. 

And in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday acknowledged the controversy surrounding Columbus for indigenous people. But at the same time said he continues to support the statue as a symbol of Italian-American heritage in the United States.

"I understand the dialogue that's been going on for a numberof years," Cuomo said. "The Christopher Columbus statue in some ways represents in some ways the Italian-American legacy in this country and the Italian-American contribution in this country. I undertstand the feelings about Christopher Columbus and some of his acts, which nobody would support. But the statue has come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian-American contribution to New York, so for that reason I support it."

The Columbus statue, part of a 76-foot monument in Manhattan's Columbus Circle, routinely comes under criticism and the focus of calls for its removal and renaming of the area each year during Columbus Day in October. 

Cuomo has in prior years similarly defended the statue as a symbol for Italian success in the United States while separating the explorer's role in history. 

But the societal reckoning underway in American society is reverberating into how history is remembered and contexualized.

"As most Americans embrace the movement to remove the Confederate flag from a place of honor in the public square, those who ignore Christopher Columbus’ role in giving the green light to centuries of racism and dehumanizing of Indigenous peoples must be called to task," said Betty Lyons, an Onondaga citizen and president and executive director of the American Indian Law Alliance. "Governor Cuomo’s eloquence in response to the anti-racism movement sparked by the murder of George Floyd apparently does not extend to the genocide and enslavement those first transatlantic voyages initiated and which continue to underpin the oppression of Indigenous peoples to this day."