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.

@iwantmysay
You have completely missed the point of my post. You've decided to twist and reframe my comments into an incredibly offensive post.
By your argument, we'd have a statue of Reinhard Heydrich et al on the pretext of educating the public on the holocaust
You are a fool if you don't understand the importance of recording history correctly.
You only know about Reinhard Heydrich because history was recorded correctly.
Just bore off

Detailed Twitter thread on the efforts taken to get this statue removed by official routes. Following a campaign from citizens against the statue, the council decided to add a plaque putting the state in context. But then got stuck in endless debates over what the plaque should say.

mobile.twitter.com/KateWilliamsme/status/1269722074077159425

When the statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down in that now infamous clip after he was deposed, I didn't hear anyone saying 'ohhh but they lost a great opportunity to be reminded of the dictator that oppressed them and a future teaching moment'

I’ve heard it all now. No the pyramids were not built by slaves, there have been documentaries made and papers written about this.

www.harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/who-built-the-pyramids-html

I'm glad this has gone. I cycle past this on my way to work every day. It is in a prominent location busy with cyclists, pedestrians and bus stops. If the council had moved it to a museum, to educate people about the history, that would have been fine. But a statue in a prominent location like that should be of people who are worthy of respect.

They won’t ask because they are too young to ever remember it was there...whereas I have...

Such a shame really...it’ll be forgotten and like it never happened...history lessons in school will move on and the lessons of the past will be forgotten...

I wouldn’t liken Colston to Hitler...slavery was socially acceptable in those days.

Weren't the pyramids built on the backs of black slaves?

No. That’s a Hollywood fable. They were built by Egyptian (not black) workers. The most recent archaeological evidence is that they were not built by slaves.

Surely these protests are pretty mild in the context of what has gone on historically. And seemed mostly white rather than black people doing it. Better a statue than an actual person? How long should people tolerate injustice for? Surely it is understandable when anger boils over like that. What if it was a white child who had been shot by the US police for playing with a toy gun? White joggers shot by a couple of neighbourhood vigilantes who escaped the law? Most people would also recognise that UK's treatment of its black population has not been great and there may equality in the law but they are faced with all sorts of prejudice in reality! Not a historian but US was under British rule when slavery started. OF course, there is the law of the land but I think most people recognise, there are also greater and far more fundamental moral laws of straightforward decency and humanity that have been contravened in the most horrific way time and time again by white people against black people. And the greatest irony is that society portrays black people as criminals when it's whites who have been responsible for the most profound acts of criminality and injustice against them? Yes slavery was some time ago but the injustices of it echo in today's society. And surely if people recognise the greatness in western civilisation and good moral moments, 2nd world war, defeat of the Nazis, they must also recognise UK's most profoundly immoral moments too. Maybe in the same way the UK quite rightly celebrates the bravery of veterans in the 2nd and 1st world war, there should be national day of contrition or atonement for the wrongs of the past - the Royal family and Prime Minister and the great and the good need to lay wreaths by a memorial for all the slaves that had lost their lives and all the intense and terrible human suffering that has been caused by what was state sponsored slavery. It's testimony of the human spirit that despite the horrors and outright barbarity to which they were subject to, the blacks during slavery and then the ongoing segregation managed to keep their humanity, culture and spirit intact, rather than being out and out destroyed.

Thanks for the explanations of Whiteladies Road and blackboy hill fairyfingers I’ve always felt uneasy about them (should’ve googled)

Cromwell should come down, I'm sure they could figure out a statue to signify the signifcwnt changes wrought over the time period without commemorating a genocidal dictator

So much misinformation is written about Cromwell, and Churchill

People see a meme on social media, with a quote of about 4 lines, often taken out of context or heavily edited or even completely untrue. Unfortunately people believe it without question

The list of statues which must be consigned to the Auto da fe is growing. Few historical figures will pass the Manichean test of the 21st century. Compile the list. Tear down the statues. This is Year Zero. I wonder if any of those who are so gleeful about obliterating the past have any notion of the historical company they keep?

The pyramids been built off the back of slaves is not the same as having a monument to their owner ie as that is what slaves were/are to their owners, is there a huge statue to the owner of those slaves right by the monument? No. Is there a statue on the middle of Cairo of the person who signed off the lives of people to slavery? No

When the statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down in that now infamous clip after he was deposed, I didn't hear anyone saying 'ohhh but they lost a great opportunity to be reminded of the dictator that oppressed them and a future teaching moment'

Or the statue of Jimmy Saville 🙄🤔

Qwhite interesting.

Some significant mosques were built by slaves...what now?

FFS tearing down a statue is not obliterating the past. His name isn't being scrubbed from the history books, theres just not a statue celebrating him anymore.

@Flaxmeadow

Some significant mosques were built by slaves...what now?

IDK, what?

When the statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down in that now infamous clip after he was deposed,

You mean, Saddam Hussein the puppet dictator put into power by the USA and when he went rogue from his US masters, they invaded, hunted him down, hung him after a secret trial.

In addition, the statue was pulled down by the US military with a tank. You can clearly see the US soldier driving a US tank to the statue, attaching a US flag and then pulling it down with his tank. He paid a few Iraqis to tie a rope round the statue.

Not really the same thing, is it?

@Institutkarite

You said
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

You equate pulling down a statue with "erasing history" which is not correct.
As you say we know about Nazi horrors because their crimes were documented and recorded, again not because there are statues of key Nazi's in Berlin.
We don't need a statue of Colston and no i wont Bore Off - what a rude and offensive comment, we should be able to disgree without resorting to abuse,

IDK, what?

Should they be torn down?

history lessons in school will move on and the lessons of the past will be forgotten

What a load of crap. I went to school in the 1990s and no-one taught me about the history of slavery. I don't know if it is on the curriculum today (I hope so) but the idea that removing a statue will prevent it from being taught is nonsense.

I found some great resources on the history of slavery and looked at it all with my kids this week. I learnt stuff I didn't know. I also read stuff I decided not to share with them as they are young. This monument was only built 150 years ago, when people generally.considered slavery a bad thing. I mean what were they thinking?

So glad it's gone. I hope other local.authorities.look at any monuments they might have and get rid of any that condone slavery or any other form of oppression.

It's a statue glorifying a slave trader, it is not a precious piece of history. That statue standing there does not tell that piece of history, a lot of us knew nothing about the guy until today and would have walked past it thinking must have been some brave dude if we thought of it at all. He wasn't standing there holding a whip and a branding iron, was he? There are far better ways of telling that story, such as a clear memorial to the slaves.

Wouldn't be surprised if schools, cathedrals and universities were built partially from the wealth of slave traders. However the protestors aren't pulling them down. They just pulled down a statue of a man who was involved in the slave trade. Some crimes are such that they cancel out all the good you have done. Slave trading/genocide/murder are a a couple of them. It might have been legal at the time but was profoundly immoral. It is now and it was then.

So much misinformation is written about Cromwell, and Churchill People see a meme on social media, with a quote of about 4 lines, often taken out of context or heavily edited or even completely untrue. Unfortunately people believe it without question

We know all about Cromwell in Ireland. Genocide attempts that kill nearly 620K people tend to be a major part of our schooling. I mean maybe your thinking that there were so many over the centuries that we wouldn't know about all of them, and you are right, most people don't. But we fucking know about that evil bastard.

I don’t agree with any vandalism however I think it is symbolic and the removal of any of these statues would be a good place for the government to start negotiations.