How do you talk about colonialism and slavery at a birthday party? New York City is trying to tackle that question this year as it turns 400, and the US will soon have to do the same for its 250th.

This episode was produced by Peter Balonon-Rosen and Haleema Shah, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Noam Hassenfeld.

Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast

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