Edward Colston

I expect few people have heard of this man .
He was a merchant in Bristol and was a slave trader at a time when it was legal .
He was also a big philanthropist and did a lot for the people and city of Bristol so they erected a statue to him.

This has now been pulled down and thrown in the river by the BLM / George Floyd Protestors

I personally think this is wrong . First this is public property and is a historical monument .

You cannot rewrite history .

There have been cries to take down NelsonS statue for similar reasons He condoned slavery as did many people in that era .


What do you think ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Colston

Re: Edward Colston

Thugs doing what they do best and using Mr Floyd as an excuse..

Re: Edward Colston

I think these people are nothing but thugs.

I'm becoming more upset and angry every day. The world as I have always known it is gone and this upsets me greatly.

You are right............you cannot rewrite history.

I never had a problem with Black people but now I see a problem and I feel all this rioting, looting and protesting has done nothing for the Black community except to bring more racism along with it.
I'm finding myself becoming more and more angry, upset and depressed the more I see things like the defacing of monuments, some Black men whacking a woman with a plank and punching her in the face for trying to protect her property during the looting. The people doing this is ruining everything for the peaceful protestors and it's the rioters we are hearing more of in turn making some of us angry.

Re: Edward Colston

Can't wait to here Artful's response to this. I hate the violence too. And I agree that many of these "protesters" are just opportunistic thugs and arrogant "know it all" anarchists who, if they had to live with real anarchy - all the time - they would soil themselves. My question is why was a statue of a slave trader erected in the first place? OK if it was erected in a time when nobody gave a toss about whether he traded in human lives, why wasn't it taken down when most of the world realised that this was wrong? I assume the guy was rich?...If he gave some of his wealth to the people (presumably white) of Bristol well..If you are asking me what I think...so he ruddy well should give some of his money away. Why does that render him deserving of a statue?..I know people - who are not exactly rich - who have given thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of their time voluntarily to help people of their community. If somebody suggested to them that they be immortalised by way of a statue they would fall down laughing. No I hate violence but if there was a statue of somebody like that in my town I'd want it gone too. There are already statues of 18th century Englishmen all over Sydney. Some like James Cook, Arthur Philip, Lachlan Macquarie* and others who, in the context of their time were decent men who were instrumental in giving the colony/ prison the start that enabled it to become an Alpha + global city. And there are other statues of men who were nowhere near as honourable and who were of much lesser value. They are still there too. Doesn't mean I'd mourn them if they were gone. But I don't want to see them pulled down by thugs in the middle of a sea of police in riot gear. Rewriting history? No, I agree, you can't. But my opinion is..and we were asked for it...YOu also are not obliged to ignore the lessons it teaches either. Or continue to obliquely pay homage to persons who's deeds, in part even, no longer represent the values of society today.

Macquarie was actually a Scot.

Re: Edward Colston

Excellent post!

Re: Edward Colston

Excellent post

Re: Edward Colston

I have nothing against protesting. Our constitution (US) gives us that right. However, there is a huge difference between protesting and rioting. Those who riot (destroying public and private property, injuring and killing others, etc.) need to be arrested and prosecuted. They care nothing about George Floyd, but are using this as an excuse to act like a bunch of animals. It's like a third-world country out there. And we have a bunch of liberal mayors who do nothing about it and limit what police can do about it. We have the "news" media and a bunch of liberal politicians who actually encourage this kind of behavior. When does it end?

Excellent posts, all of you!

Re: Edward Colston

Edward Colston was also a philanthropist. It does sound a contradiction in terms But he did a huge amount for the city of Bristol building homes for the poor and founding schools etc etc I supose those who benefited didn’t care where the money came from ..This was in a time when slavery was not considered wrong.
It wasn’t only the uk that had slaves slavery was all over the world .

In Africa where the slave trade originated it was practised amount black people themselves on a grand scale . Tribes would take slaves from other tribes , and the slave trade also went east to the orient .The Arab slave trade was huge
In fact one of the few places where slavery is practised today is Africa .
Bristol has a very large Somalian community they don’t seem to mind living in a town that was once a port for the slave trade .

So where do you stop ?
Do you tear down every historic stature or house because a slave owner lived there.
That would mean practically every building of historical Interest in some cases .
Much of Rome was built by slave labour should it be ripped down ?

I am surprised that Nelson is still on his column in Trafalgar Square I supose because it is so high but that no doubt will come . The stature of Winston a Churchill is frequently defaced .
Many wish to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oxford university .
These people were controversial and often cruel figures but does that mean it’s right to destroy history ?

Tearing down statures and damaging public property doesn’t help anyone. I don’t think people pay homage to past historic people at all - times are past its history .I had never heard of the man before this happened and I live 30 miles form Bristol .

It’s not like everyone was a slave owner the poor were working in terrible conditions and were in many cases treated like slaves themselves. The world was a crueler place altogether .
Most people couldnt care less - homage is a word that is hardly ever used these days especially to obscure past characters but they do get annoyed when public property is damaged and they have to pay for it !

Re: Edward Colston

Burning Books used to be Rife, but now we have Wiki.

Re: Edward Colston

I'm watching the world from afar and wondering what the future is going to be like for our children and grandchildren. Seeing these terrible riots causing dreadful loss and fear . Amidst the covid virus people standing side by side when we oldies have spent weeks alone and thousands have died such dreadful loss . These rioters not a thought or care of spreading the sickness.

Am I selfish for thinking this or are they selfish for not caring they are causing more deaths to come .

I wouldn't know how to be racist it isn't in my energy , what happened to George Ffloyd was appalling, sickening, and that cop and his cronies will get their punishment . But this rioting is out of hand.

I love this world she is beautiful but I feel I don't belong here anymore . This violence frightens me for our children's future .