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.

I'm glad they did it. As previous pps have said, put it in a museum with the good and atrocious things this man did. Very fitting that he ended up in the river after having slaves drowned for insurance.

In the early 90s my DH was head boy at the school named after him. We’re interested to see if it changes its name.

They "vandalized" a statue of a slave trader, not a memorial or a building that is useful. This thing was literally putting this man on a pedestal for people to look up to.

I wouldn't ordinarily say vandalism is a good thing, but in this instance I'll make an exception.

Yep I’m with those saying tear them down. We can’t keep statues because they are considered ages and antiques, and thus have “value”. They represent a horrific slave history. Bring them down! And yes rename places that have these slave trader names or racist names.

I think Bristol has fucked up, people have been campaigning against the removal of this statue for a long time. It could have been taken down and put in a museum telling of the slave trade and educating people about the effects that had

But this has been ignored for years, so this has become the education lesson instead

Do you want to go into Steven Biko then?

He died a horrid death and campaigned all his life but treated his families like utter shit.

Abused more than one woman. It's not really that easy to commemorate anyone as we're all flawed. Some more than others.

@frownette have I missed something? Is there a statue of him in Bristol?

pidge no I was talking about commemoration in general

@frownette All people who make an impact on society should be remembered, that’s what museums are for. But they should show the true story behind that impact. If this statue had been relocated years ago as requested this wouldn’t have occurred

Good to the region at the expense of other people's freedom and lives? It's shameful that we benefited from that, we don't have to celebrate him too.

The slave trade was a disgusting shameful part of our history. We cannot hide from that. It's not the fault of anyone alive today, but white people have benefited generationally from that and continue to do. A lot of wealthy families particularly owe their fortunes to the slave trade in someway.

But even normal people benefit, wealth to build schools, libraries, etc even publicly funded stuff was paid for in part from taxes of people making money through the trade. This is part of the fabric of our wealth as a country,.

@sprocky999 I didn’t tear anything down, I said it belonged in a museum like other historical items good or bad, but factual

We can't give back what we took from them not even in terms of money, but the very least we should do is not glorify the people who were directly involved in it.

@amusedtodeath1 it does need to be acknowledged and documented though, that’s what museums are for, how else will we remember past mistakes?

I dont believe he was a dishonerable man at all.

He gave orders that black people be murdered en masse for the insurance money.

Looking through the lens of the 21st century is such a misguided judgement.

What the actual fuck is wrong with you??

It's not really that easy to commemorate anyone as we're all flawed.

Wow you really pulled the “none of us are perfect” card in a debate about the mass murder of black people.

sprocky999 what the actual fuck is wrong with you?

It shouldn’t have been there and should have been in a museum. Given the council showed no sign of removing it yesterday sent a powerful message. I would like to see it retrieved and in the Mshed , it now has historical value in relation to 2020 that should be preserved.

Ideally things would change without criminal acts but often they don’t and people take matters into their own hands to move things forward and on a site aimed at Mothers we all have benefitted from the actions of the suffragettes.

I’m a Bristolian and pleased to see it gone. No doubt it will create a pouring of letters to the Bristol Post and no doubt my Dad will be one vehemently declaring it is an outrage and criminal in its nature but frankly he is racist as fuck and doesn’t deserve to be listened to on this.

@sprocky999

I've never done this before...

I'm not going to merit your dumbass racist blatherings with a reply.

The Rhodes statue is due to be felled in Oxford tomorrow.

[quote Thepigeonsarecoming]@amusedtodeath1 it does need to be acknowledged and documented though, that’s what museums are for, how else will we remember past mistakes?[/quote]
I don't disagree with you on that, but there are other ways to document history too.

Maybe it should end up in a museum as a learning aid. Maybe it should be melted down for something else? As long as it's not a proud monument to a man who made money from slaves I really don't care tbh.

We paid our taxes until 2015 to pay off the families of slave owners. Damn bloody right in 2020 a statue of a slave trader -erected long after slavery had been abolished--should be removed. It's not revising history, it is making history. And all the comments about people should have asked the council properly. People have asked the council, over and over, for years.

So will people stop using shops that treat the Bangladesh workforce as subhuman? Will they use this as a moment to look at our own actions today and how they might be viewed in the future ?