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.

I have clearly stated that what he did was morally wrong but it was within the law

The defence that an act was legal at the time of its commission, when that act is so heinous as to constitute a crime against humanity was thrown out in a landmark judgment that is internationally accepted.

The court in question was at Nuremberg.

If the slave trade wasn't a crime against humanity, I don't know what is.

I believe the company Colston ran which was involved in the slave trade was set up by Charles 2nd and his brother who became James 2nd and Samuel Pepys and John Locke were members. There’s a lot of statues to pull down.

Best get cracking then!

As David Olusoga said, "removing statues is not erasing history". Statues are commemorations of people to look up to. We don't erect statues of people we think are objectionable. There's a lot of recent history surrounding the presence of the statue, so it was never an acceptable part of the city centre to many.

The right context for it is in a museum. Hopefully, it'll get lifted out of the river and put on display. What happened today is also part of the history of human enslavement.

Whitewashing of history is lazily ignoring it and superficially brushing over it in education. Like the whole of colonialism. There's so many in the UK who still think the Empire was a great and wondrous thing, and that it did a lot of good in other countries.

Hopefully today will be a catalyst.

The man paid for his 'philanthropy' by selling, killing and torturing human beings. He had children branded. Was his philanthropy while he was a slave trader or was that his attempt at redemption? I don't know much about him.

Glad it’s gone. Direct action is reasonable here. I don’t see civil disobedience as anti-democratic. In Iceland they have a monument dedicated to civil disobedience outside their parliament with a reminder that when government violates the rights of its citizens they have a fundamental right to resist. Struck me as a country that confidently embraces real democracy.

People take down statues all the time around the world. Comparing it to ISIS is ridiculous. Did those of you who feel outrage feel the same when Sadam Hussein's statue was taken down, for example? Mob rule ffs people have been campaigning for 30 years, a better way to learn about slavery is to study the life of a person who was sold into into slavery, you know rehumsnise people. Why nit learn history from what can be salvaged of the victims lives rather than honouring their perpetrators. Even simply you really think passing that statue teaches anyone about history more than watching Roots or reading Toni Morrison? Time to revaluate how exactly we learn about history.

@LakieLady

I have clearly stated that what he did was morally wrong but it was within the law

The defence that an act was legal at the time of its commission, when that act is so heinous as to constitute a crime against humanity was thrown out in a landmark judgment that is internationally accepted.

The court in question was at Nuremberg.

If the slave trade wasn't a crime against humanity, I don't know what is.

Well said, LakieLady.

Completely daft in my opinion to remove our historical past, must we remove everything built on past mistakes. There are buildings all over the U.K port cities and capital built on profits derived from the slave trade and colonial past. Erasing history will teach us little, we haven't removed the relics of the more recent world war atrocities as we use them to remember the horror in the hope that we learn from the poor decisions and actions of previous eras.
We really should keep our, history to remind future generations if not how far back do we go to appease our ever more mixed and multicultural society. It's better we put our efforts into creating a fair, inclusive and equal future for all, small symbolic gestures such as this do nothing to improving the daily lives of those affected by racism. Only real action to change the minds and thoughts of the current generation will make the difference required.

@thedancingbear you’ll need a list and a map!

@thedancingbear you are amazing

Disgusting behaviour - vandalising and defacing public property. There is NO excuse for it.

I'm gobsmacked that the statue was even still standing in the first place! Me too - an utter disgrace!

@BankofNook

Where does this kind of direct action end?

Hopefully it ends with action from the government that will bring about the changes needed to end the racism without our society. Actions they should have taken before matters got to this stage.

This 👏

Was his philanthropy while he was a slave trader or was that his attempt at redemption? I don't know much about him.

He was involved in the slave trade right up until his death and was a major investor in the South Seas Company, another business trading in slaves. He also petition Parliament in his later years in favour of expanding the slave trade.

It should be gone, quite incredible though we have gone from people being fined for mixing with someone outside of their household to the police doing fuck all about this.

I'm from Bristol, most of my family still live there. The debate about whether to take the statue down has been going on since I was at school. We were asked in a PSHE class whether we agreed with the Colston statue being up in the town centre and the general response was "What statue?"
My niece is at the school now and when her class was talking about the statue, the response was similar. They recently changed the school house names, one of which was Colston, and, according to niece and sister, the Deputy head who organised it seemed to think he'd done something Nobel peace prize worthy. The student response was pretty apathetic and the older students still use the old house names.
It's a city centre school with a very diverse student demographic but almost entirely white staff who couldn't understand why students were so apathetic about this. My guess? That most of the students know that the statue is not the problem because no one is looking at it and going "Well, thank God we had someone like that!"
The problem is an ingrained prejudice against BAME people which is not going to change by pulling down the statue. I understand why people want it gone but this isn't going to change public opinions, it's entirely tokenistic.
People already know that what Edward Colston did was heinous. The statue was kept up for so long because it was his wealth which funded many public buildings and roads, not because people in modern day Britain thought that slave trading was an admirable pursuit.

He died 150 years before it was even erected. It should never have been put up, should certainly not still have been there.

I don't think they should have pulled it down but I'm glad it's gone, and think this tweet is true.

twitter.com/ChrisPJGodfrey/status/1269661743996973059

@Boogiewoogietoo please don't start talking about what we do and don't do in a civilised society! A civilised society doesn't kill unarmed black men who haven't even been proven guilty or faced trial. Get your priorities right! I bet you were one who was also more concerned about the horse bolting yesterday than the thousands of peaceful protesters!

I'd be more outraged about the removal by councils all over the country of thousands of trees to save money on sweeping up the leaves.

@BankofNook thanks.

I'm surprised it was still standing but doing some reading (I'm new in town) he donated his vast fortune to charitable causes and that's why there was a statue. Lots of the older buildings in Bristol have links to slavery unfortunately but vandalism doesn't help anyone. Pulling down the statue is very symbolic and harms nobody but let's hope destruction ends there.

@Rosebel the slave trade ended in the 1800s however the effects are still felt to this very day. But of course your post shows no empathy to the people it affected so you're clearly not bothered as long as all is well with you and yours! How incredible unsympathetic and selfish of you.

It was an amazing thing to watch. A wee lad was up there being cheered after and his face was the most beautiful thing.

That statue is (was) disgusting. It's wrong that people had to walk past it, knowing that he bought and brought their descendants to this city. People in Bristol have called for its removal for years, myself included and bugger all came of it. Removing his statue doesn't change history, but it ends some of his glorification in Bristol. I'm glad it's gone and I'm glad I got to see it go.

I think it was a shite thing to do. Mob rule at its finest. Petition to get it moved, fine. Rip it down? Not fine. This is not going to help, it's going to make things worse.