Turns out, pulling a statue down can sometimes teach people a lot more about history than leaving it standing would have.
Seriously, I had never even heard Edward Colston's name before his statue was toppled, rolled through the streets, and dumped into the water at the same docks where his slave ships used to be moored.
He will not be missed. Anyone who claims his statue was of historical importance is fooling themselves.
Bristol • history • slavery
The city of Bristol in the UK has a history of racism which needs to be acknowledged.
For centuries, this was a city where people were owned like property. In the 18th century in particular, Bristol was heavily involved in slavery. Thousands of slave ships were sent from there to West Africa, to enslave people and make them work on plantations. The city directly profited from this for a century. After slavery was abolished in the UK, open hostility towards Black people in this city persisted.
The fact that there was a statue standing there for so long, of a literal slave trader is disgusting, quite frankly. The worst part is, the statue of Colston wasn't even put there until 1895. 174 years after he died, and 62 years after the abolition of slavery.
The very existence of this statue was a very deliberate insult. It should've been thrown into the sea long ago.
Bristol • history • slavery
Not only that, but there were debates going on even adding a second plaque with more information about his business and its casualties, which were consistently blocked by Tory councillors.
Which is precisely why it ended in the river eventually.
Bristol • history • slavery
Councillor Richard Eddy:
"Contrary to Jeremy Corbyn's utterances, although understandably some human mistakes were made at the time, the creation and maintenance of the British Empire is a huge positive achievement of which Britons should rightly feel great pride.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/jeremy-corbyn-labour-richard-eddy-2111110
I consider Corbyn to be a bigot either, this referenced just for the Eddy citation and the history of plaques.
Bristol • history • slavery
@kravietz "some human mistakes were made" 😐😐😐
Bristol • history • slavery
Precisely, I have actually preserved this quote for future reference as it's just incredible...
Bristol • history • slavery
@kravietz Gosh, the Tories were against this? How unexpected.