To feel emotional at the slave trader statue

[Millicent10]

being pulled down earlier.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52954305

This says so much and the symbolism of throwing it in the river is such a suitable ending. Reminds everyone what happened to so many slaves.

[justanotherneighinparadise]

Let’s hope they can retrieve it and melt it down or someone else will have that out and make themselves some money.

[GenerateUsername]

I'm gobsmacked that the statue was even still standing in the first place!

Being pulled down is the least of what have been done to it.

[Dollywilde]

I was at Bristol uni a decade ago and we were writing about needing to take that thing down then. I’m generally anti civil disobedience but good riddance, the thing should have been pulled down years ago.

[GenerateUsername]

Sorry, posted too soon. I wanted to say that I didn't even know it was there (I don't live in Bristol) and wouldn't have known what it represented. We need to talk about these things and make it clear what they are and why they need to go, otherwise how will things ever change?

[Rowantree2020]

This isn’t the way to resolve things in a democracy. Where does this kind of direct action end?

[BMW6]

Am surprised and shocked that it wasn't taken down decades ago.

[thedancingbear]

This isn’t the way to resolve things in a democracy. Where does this kind of direct action end?

I agree! I think we should be erecting more statues of slave traders! FFS.

Being serious, Rowantree2020, what is your fucking justification for a statue of a noted slave trader standing in a UK town centre in the 21st century?

[pollyskettles]

Twitter is already seeing objections and accusations of criminal damage and vandalism - which it is of course. What should happen to the buildings in Bristol which the money from Colston and others paid for?

[maybelou]

AMAZING!!! Bristol's very local to me, I'm so glad to see this (though the damn thing shouldn't have been up in the first place!) Good on the protesters.

[GenerateUsername]

What should happen to the buildings in Bristol which the money from Colston and others paid for?

I believe that some of them have had their names changed.

Who would benefit if they were razed? Many would be harmed.

On the other hand, the removal of this statue is to no one's detriment.

[Rowantree2020]

I think it’s completely wrong to have the statue. I just don’t think it’s for groups of protesters to rip stuff down because that’s a slippery slope. It’s for the council to take it down following the normal democratic process.

[CuriousaboutSamphire]

It being removed is one thing. Being torn down and thrown into a river is another.

The actions undermine the message.

Not the best way to change your world!

[StealthPolarBear]

Agree its removal was symbolic and will go down in history

[thedancingbear]

This isn’t the way to resolve things in a democracy. Where does this kind of direct action end?

What would you prefer they did, sign an online petition?

[BankofNook]

Where does this kind of direct action end?

Hopefully it ends with action from the government that will bring about the changes needed to end the racism without our society. Actions they should have taken before matters got to this stage.

[MsTSwift]

Absolutely outrageous it was even there! Sickening to show how much power money bestows even hundreds of years later and many made in the most filthy way possible.

Bristol always gives me the creeps tbh and used to live there.

[thedancingbear]

Rowantree, people have been trying to get the statue removed by democratic means for decades, and have got nowhere. It's offensive that it remained in place for so long, and I'm overjoyed this has happened.

[MsTSwift]

Surely we learned from the suffragettes that things don’t change with polite requests.

[MidsummerMurder]

Colostomy primary school changed its name a couple of years ago. They’re not airbrushing history, the children will learn who he was in an appropriate context, and why the name change was necessary and right.

[Rowantree2020]

Dancingbear this approach is similar to XR and a number of other causes. Effectively you’re saying that people who can’t get what they want through the democratic process can go ahead and take action by force. In which case is there any point to democracy?

[thedancingbear]

All of you jumping on the bandwagon do you actually know anything about all the good things he did for Bristol?

I'm from the area (about 1/2 hour away), and am vaguely aware of the history. Mussolini made the trains run on time. So what?

The thing that alarms me about the whole BLM thing on here is whenever someone posts a positive thread calling out racism and racists, there's always a gaggle of posters seeking to undermine the message:

'they shouldn't be protesting because coronavirus'
'white people get killed by cops too'
'tearing down a statue of a slave trader is technically criminal damage'
'George Floyd was a bad man you know'

It's fairly transparent what's going on. They obviously can't articulate what they're really thinking in the current climate, so they have to snipe from the sidelines as the world changes around them.

[StealthPolarBear]

Rosebel how does pulling down a statue affect a pandemic?
Lots of bad people did good things. As a slave trader surely that must be the main thing he is noted for?
(not here, I'd never heard of him until this)

[FudgeBrownie2019]

Polite petitions do not change the world.

As much as I oppose violence and destruction I can't bring myself to feel sad about this; that statue should have been removed aeons ago. People shouldn't have to campaign to have statues like that removed, either, it should have been removed for the sake of basic decency. And now it has been.