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.

@panavia

What are your thoughts on the Berlin Wall?

@GinDaddyRedux

I'm mixed race. (Black Caribbean parent).

I would have wanted the statue to remain.

I would want to show my children how figures like this rise to power off the broken backs (literally) of others, and how despicable that is.

Yes you can do that without a statue. But it's existence is a point of commentary in itself. It says that people are often celebrated for being benefactors when people are grateful to receive the money without looking too closely into the suffering that made that money.

I would have kept it. I don't do the hysterical virtue signalling that seems so popular about race issues at the moment.

His name should also have remained on the buildings.

It’s not a bad idea, but if you made that decision, then you’d need to put up some form of heritage interpretation display to give context to the statue and the man. Which would have been a fairly affordable solution, too.

Bristol City Council have had plenty of time to come to a resolution and they have seriously dragged their feet on the whole issue, so a proportion of the responsibility for this lies with them.

Put it this way. I'm Irish. A traditionally unwelcomed people in the UK. The Polish are similar (my last boss was Polish and we chatted a lot). If people lumped us all together as the somehow great unwashed I'd be fuming. While we have a lot in common, my Irish identity is something that I'm proud of. I don't want to be known as 'the immigrant'. I've no idea how people who are not white feel with being given a collective term. Like they're some sort of blended people. Yer man from Nigeria is grouped together with the Pakistani woman or the Sri Lankan or the Palestinian. I think the BAME term is a new fangled term and is a bit shite to be honest. Give them their nationality at least. Or at least say what you mean - immigrants.

@MsTSwift The suffragettes were a bit different - they were protesting for democracy. Hard to change things through the democratic process when you don’t have the vote...

@Rowantree2020 I agree with you 100%.

And don’t get me started on what some of the rioters did to the British police and police horses...

Auschwitz still stands as a living memorial to victims of murder. Much better than a statue of a Nazi ever could. I realise there is no single site for the genocide of black people but there are lots of cultural things. Therrs an underwater graveyard sculpture off Grenada, there are films, books etc. Wny not found on them rather than a fucking monument to a mass murderer.

Colostomy primary school changed its name a couple of years ago.
A wise move.

Weren't the pyramids built on the backs of black slaves? So with this monumental era of the destroying of this statue, then should the pyramids get destroyed, as they too are a reminder of slavery and oppression.

The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) owned and dealt in slaves.

Presumably this mob will be off to demolish a few mosques next, as dictated by their twisted logic.

Mosques house people. Statues glorify them, and AFAIK there are no statues of Mohammed in the town squares of the UK.

If there were I'm sure lots of people would protest for the reasons you cited.

what's next then?
Now these self righteous idiots think they can destroy whatever they disapprove of where do you stop? After all, history is full of expoitation, there's rich pickings out there.
It doesn't change anything. Nothing. It will stoke up racial tension.

Weren't the pyramids built on the backs of black slaves? So with this monumental era of the destroying of this statue, then should the pyramids get destroyed, as they too are a reminder of slavery and oppression

Statues are usually put up to revere and admire the person, so not the same thing.

It doesn't change anything. Nothing. It will stoke up racial tension

So sit back and do nothing?

Racial tension is alive and kicking, as these protests, at this time, prove.

@Gimmeay where did bame suddenly come from it's something I've only heard of recently , I had to google the meaning but who actually first started using the term so we know ?

Good luck stoking up racial tension in bristol

Btw I’m not saying there’s no racism here obviously

The only emotion I feel about the statue is pity for the protesters.

I pity all who think destroying statues will make “a difference”
I pity all who think destroying statues is even relevant to ending racism
I pity all who think destruction is progress, when it is the opposite.
I pity all who think erasing history is the best way to remember it’s lessons.

Colostomy primary school changed its name a couple of years ago.

It would have been a bit shit if they hadn't.

Knocking down that statue is pathetic imo.

It’s not going to achieve anything...while you’re at it why not destroy all of Bristol and Liverpool docks, ancient Roman artefacts, the Great Wall of China and what’s left of the pyramids?

Slavery is a massive part of Bristol’s heritage and paid for an awful lot in the city....why not destroy all of it?!

All people have done here is make it easier for that to be forgotten...which teaches our children nothing.

Great job.

My aunt and uncle live in Bristol. They're very happy the statue is gone. Apparently people have argued for its removal for some time.

Not a useful contribution but both whiteladies road and black boy hill predate the slave trade. Blackboy hill is named after the pub which in turn is named after Charles 2nd who was very dark haired. Whiteladies was probably named after a carmelite convent.

As a sort of local (work in the city, grew up and moved back to the surrounding countryside) i would like to see the statue in the Mshed. It was directly responsible for my first conversation with my kids about the slave trade and then racism as well as getting my London born DH to read about the subject and learn more.

The taking down of the statue will not be forgotten. When your children ask why the statue is no longer there, you can tell them why.

How is pulling down a statue glorifying a slave trader "erasing history"?

@PlanDeRaccordement

I'll just pull you up on your last "i pity" (i could do all of them)

In what way does pulling down a statue equate to "erasing history?"
Do you nothing about post WW2 Germany?

Plenty in the west cheered when Saddams statue was pulled down a few years ago.

@Cakecakes2011 just because the statue is gone doesn’t mean that something more appropriate can’t be put in its place as a physical record to help educate future generations. I liked the idea of melting down the statue to create a new sculpture, but it should be for the local population to vote on what they want.

Look, I'm a pretty mild mannered person and broadly speaking am in favour of the traditions in this country (eg I'm pro Royal).

But, I do think that this statue should have been removed in response to the many petitions that have been made to remove it, it really isn't appropriate in 2020.

Fine, he obviously did a lot of charitable things, but he was rich largely from the blood of Africans who lost their lives or had their lives ruined when he bought them as slaves.

I think it should have been quietly and respectfully removed and put in a local museum where a balanced account of his acts (good and bad) could be made. Or alternatively given to his descendents.

This has come about because people haven't been listened to.

That is very useful, in the context of the absurd suggestion that everything that has "black" or "white" in the name must have racist origins and therefore must now be destroyed.

Destruction is destruction. It leads nowhere except to more destruction.