How do you all feel about this history being destroyed?

[Link]

They are the exact top 4 in the list of countries where slavery still exists in the article that Teddy Eagle provided a link to just after 1 o'clock today.

Don't know what it's telling us but it's an interesting observation.

That's true, but retrospective respect to the man is too. Past legality isn't the primary lens through which everything must be judged. People both now and then knew that slavery was cruel and inhumane. It was though, also a very profitable enterprise hence its continuation. Let's also remember that just a
stones throw back in some countries, blacks at the front of the bus were illegal, sit-ins were illegal, running away as a slave was illegal and severely punished. We don't have to respect that these freedoms were once illegal, just as we don't have to respect slavery being legal in the past either.

If we're going to hold close all artifact of our past, we can't very well suggest that other races should forget about their histories too, the impact of it or what it means to them.

With that said, any decision regarding this statue should have happened via democratic process not people taking it into their own hands. I do appreciate the point that says "well where does it end.." and was angry to see the damage and criminality elsewhere. The statue of Edward Colston however would but better placed and understood in a museum. I fully support dredging it from the depths. The scrawlings on it should not be removed though, as they are now also a meaningful part of his history. Some would say, a fitting one.

Edited by BlueJay (08 Jun 2020 2.51pm)

Anybody thought, that while history was being destroyed, in the slave trader builder of Bristol, that history was also being made, as the day the people rebelled, like it or loathe it, they have taken part in a historical day for Bristol, one that will go in the history books for ever!

Not everyone agrees it should be taken down though.
Is it a case of do what you fxxxxx want now?
It was illegal and other people's opinions count on if it stays or goes.

I'll go and rip down the Mendela statue, am I aloud to do that now?????? The rules now state I can.

Edited by dannyboy1978 (08 Jun 2020 3.28pm)

That's true, but retrospective respect to the man is too. Past legality isn't the primary lens or get out through which everything must be judged. People both now and then knew that slavery was cruel and inhumane. It was though, also a very profitable enterprise hence its continuation. Let's also remember that just a stones throw back in some countries, blacks at the front of the bus were illegal, sit-ins were illegal, running away as a slave was illegal and severely punished. We don't have to respect that these freedoms were once illegal, just as we don't have to respect slavery being legal in the past either.

If we're going to hold close all artifact of our past, we can't very well suggest that other races should forget about their histories too, the impact of it or what it means to them.

With that said, any decision regarding this statue should have happened via democratic process not people taking it into their own hands. I do appreciate the point that says "well where does it end.." and was angry to see the damage and criminality elsewhere. The statue of Edward Colston however would but better placed and understood in a museum. I fully support dredging it from the depths. The scrawlings on it should not be removed though, as they are now also a meaningful part of Colston's history. Some would say, a fitting one.

Edited by BlueJay (08 Jun 2020 3.09pm)