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.

Governments hate it when people very briefly make a show of asserting their power - hence riot police violently laying into peaceful protestors in the US and Priti Patel getting wound up about a statue of a slaver getting thrown in the water. But such occasional display of "disorder" are essential in a democracy, an occasional push back to their arrogance and endless power grabbing and a reminder that government is permitted through the acquiesence of the people, not the other way round.

Brilliant.

A pity that a large number of the snactimonious 'protesters' didn't go in after it.

People in the past knew slavery was wrong. Those who accepted it were motivated purely by greed and lack of moral conscience. If this is vandalism, then so is Banksy's art.

@Etinox is that real? Ive tried finding it on Google maps. Would love it if it was

@mrsBtheparker that's charming. By sanctimonious do you mean nicer than you?

Thanks @BankofNook
I'll ask her a few questions

I'm pleased that the statue is finally gone. It popped up in the news regularly as loads of people wanted to get rid of it but it always stayed, and it always baffled me. Fair play to the protesters.

O ffs safe comparing Banksy to Slave traders. Are you thick knowingly?

The Berlin wall was pulled down.
That did not ^rewrite history*
it MADE History

Pulling down the statue today Made history
it re wrote NOTHING

@Smilethoyourheartisbreaking I won't hth.. Its true. Whether you like it or not.

I’m really surprised that it was not taken down years ago. It’s was time for it to go. Not so Impressed with the Churchill statue being vandalised really uncalled for.

All these protests & at this time, goes to show what an angry and divided nation we are.
Where else (in Europe) is this happening?
At this time our so called PM's silence is shocking, is he on holiday again?

On the statue, i think its great and Patel is a disgrace.

@Jangirl2018 but the BLM movement has devised just that.. An effective strategy, with funding and leadership. A quick Google will tell you that 🤷🏻‍♀️

There was a sky news article yesterday detailing how the leaders of the BLM protests were saddened by the actions of the rioters and those perpetrating violence as it impacted on the protests.

Erasing historical actions is the work of a totalitarian state. Actions from the past are something that all countries have to live with.
Is it better to leave the statue to stand and own and accept what some of our ancestors did? Or is it best to wipe it out and pretend it didn't happen.
We can only learn from the past if we know the truth about the actions of some citizens. Erasing history and denying truth will serve no purpose for future generations.

@mrsBtheparker
I don't understand what you're complaining about. The statue is still there. If you want to see it so badly why not just jump in?

@TheBouquets

All these statues were the history and founders of the various cities throughout UK and other places. There are things which were done in the past which are not done now and I am glad that people have learned to live in a better way. We can not change or erase the history of our cities. They were founded by lots of people for lots of reasons. What I have seen of these demonstrations is that a lot of people were way out of control of their own actions and following the herd. People have no right to vandalise anything. The scary thing for me was the herd attitude, probably none of these people would have removed a statue on their own.

The people who did it came very prepared. Did it safely, with strong ropes and clearly knew what they were doing. I'm pretty confident they would have removed it on their own - they pretty much did. There was no baying mob, only cheering when he came down.

Good riddance.

Yes it's historic but our public spaces are precious and shouldn't be used to celebrate slave traders. People have studied petitions, the city had plenty of chance to move this artifact to a museum where the
true history could be explained. Instead they left it standing as if he deserves celebration.

In this case -about bloody time. 10,000 signatures a year or so ago did nothing. Bristol was built on the slave trade -FGS the shopping centre is on 'WHITE LADIES road' and their is a Blackboy Hill -these should have been renamed years ago. There is a Colston Grammar & Colston Girls Grammar -rename it all.

Why is it so hard for some people to appreciate a distinction between 'erasing history' vs. 'not actively celebrating shameful historical figures'?

@mrsBtheparker

A pity that a large number of the snactimonious 'protesters' didn't go in after it.

So you wish they'd drowned?

Agree with criticism of Churchill and would add that he also ordered troops to shoot striking miners. He wasn't a particularly good man - we mostly "won" the war because Hitler was stupid enough to go into Russia, Churchill's domestic policies were diabolical and when we needed to rebuild the country people trusted Attlee, thankfully.

Thats been a long time coming!
Fair play..