The statue of Colston in Bristol has been taken down by the protestors

[MrsPeacockInTheLibrary]

If you know anything of the history of Bristol and the slave trade - his name and legacy is deeply controversial. There are two sides to it at least.

I don't know who was responsible for it being torn down. But it is a big development for this city and its long history of protests.

@mrni that's very trusting of you.

And your assumption presumably includes me! And you couldn't be further from the truth, your rather facile assumption would be insulting if it weren't vaguely amusing.

The history behind Colston etc needs to be well known, understood in context of then and now. We need to understand what makes humans treat others as lesser than, not to assume that we are better than our ancestors.

Such actions have repercussions... and those I have witnessed are deeply unpleasant and based in a total lack of understanding.

I would suspect you and I feel the same about Colston et al but disagree in how we think their legacy should be dealt with.

Some of the streets in Scotland were said to be renamed, ie, Buchanan Street They're not

Surely history 'changes' continually as what we know and what we think as society moves on?

@Nellydean1, I've now seen some other videos from different angles that show the crowd is more diverse than I first thought.

Or rather the facts don't change but the framing of those facts evolves.

I saw this and cheered!

I'm all for having the history recorded: there was a man called Colston, there was a statue to him in the square, it was removed in June 2020.

There should be pictures of all this, and newspaper accounts, and if a museum fancies giving the statue house room with its full history attached, then great. But the statue doesn't need to be in the square, where it was originally put for celebration and commemoration of Colston – because we don't celebrate him any more.

History now reads -
Edward Colston - 1636-1722
Statue erected of him 1895
Statue removed 2020
It’s not re written...

Although Glasgow did this...
www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/remembering-the-history-glasgow-14923044

My cousin has just posted on Facebook asking if anyone is collecting scrap metal locally :)

Historical moment my arse.

A bunch of inherently privileged white kids indulging in expressing their deep and abiding solidarity with a culture they are desperate to be associated with without appropriating it. They should have been wearing hair shirts, sackcloth and ashes, ffs!

Pointless! Conspicuous PC bollocks.

There are far better ways of dealing with such things, education, museums, expositions etc. Even the continued petitions, marches etc. They at least kept the issue live, being discussed.

A grand ta da like this just gives them a 5 minute warm feeling of purity and does fuck all to change anything in the real world.

Hmmm is it destroying history or making new history?

How do you make new history? History is past, it cannot be new by definition.

An historian said

H. J. Wilkins, who uncovered his slave trading activities, commented that "we cannot picture him justly except against his historical background".[25] Colston's involvement in the slave trade predated the Abolition movement in Britain, and was during a time when "slavery was generally condoned in England – indeed, throughout Europe – by churchmen, intellectuals and the educated classes".[26]

It pretty much sums up my view. Context is all.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-52950006

As an official of the Royal African Company from 1680 to 1692, he was also involved in the transportation of approximately 84,000 enslaved African men, women and young children, of whom 19,000 died on voyages from West Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas.
Tells you all you need to know about the man, the statue should have been removed years ago.

I don't agree with the protests during lockdown but I do agree with the statue coming down. About time.

Vigilante justice isn't allowed.
If we cannot respect laws, society is fucked.
I would have supported the removal of the statue. But not by vandals. By council officials who would put it in a museum to educate people.

Well done to the protesters. Pulling down the statue of someone with dubious ethics makes a statement, and in my opinion it's a good one.

@CuriousaboutSamphire totally agree. They brought rope with them and just did pre-planned criminal damage.

Turning a legitimate protest against racism into an excuse to cause damage that the cash strapped council will have to pay to repair.

Sure I judge him in the context of the time.

I'm glad to see his statue removed.

Crowded They're never going to rename Buchanan Street. Not in a million years. It makes me furious to think of it.

Let’s just destroy all history.

Having a statue to glorify a man who profited from slavery does destroy history.

We can play pretend about the misery imperialism caused, or we can confront it and not have statues of people who got rich from systematic torture, murder and rape.

@PerkingFaintly

Sure I judge him in the context of the time.

I'm glad to see his statue removed.

Those two sentences completely contradict one another.

They really don't.

Will they just rename all Colston buildings, roads etc, or tear them down

Yep, thankfully.

www.colstonhall.org/transform-the-hall/vision-and-renaming/

They really do.