Statue of a slave trader brought down :DDDDDDDDDD

[lokifan]

OMG guys, did you see what happened yesterday?

THE STATUE OF A SLAVE TRADER IN BRISTOL GOT BROUGHT DOWN, DRAGGED AWAY, AND DUMPED IN THE RIVER!!!!!!!!!!

OMFG YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS https://t.co/kfzsZX6z8j

— 🔞Becky (@LokifanLJ) June 7, 2020

I’M SO THRILLED I CAN’T TELL YOU.

The guy was a slave trader who made himself a fortune in kidnapping and selling people, then donated a bunch of that fortune and got himself a statue in a place where that money was more important than the lives he’d destroyed. If you’re thinking of Cecil Rhodes etc, you’re not wrong (though Rhodes was on a level it’s pretty hard to match).

I just. YES.

Britain is in such deep denial about the slave trade, and how much of our wealth today is built on it. We still have statues of and places named after these people. And let’s be real - statues aren’t history, they’re hagiography. We don’t put up statues based purely on their significance, they’re not neutral - we put up statues to commemorate, not remember. We choose people we admire, to honour them, so they can inspire us.

We need to remember history, warts and all, but that’s not the purpose of a statue.

Including statues of people I love, who inspire me - like, I don’t think someone needs to be perfect to be commemorated and admired! But we do also need to look at their flaws. That’s just not what a statue does, or even can do. Edith Cavell, a woman I admire a lot, who had her flaws, I’m sure. If it turned out she, I don’t know, was a big fan of the British Empire (hardly implausible)? That’s something that should be recorded and discussed in biographies etc. But that discussion wouldn’t make the statue of her in central London, one of my favourites - with its engraved HUMANITY above and the quote underneath, “Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.” - come across as anything other than an admiring tribute to her, and a statement that Edith Cavell, who nursed ill soldiers on both sides of a war, was someone we should admire for how she cared for people regardless of background.

The same thing goes for Edward Colston - the statue is there to honour him, to say he deserves to be remembered, and that we should be inspired by his good example. It says his flaws (in this case, kidnapping, torturing and murdering people for money) didn’t stop him from being an impressive, worthy good example. That’s what statues of real people in public places do.

AND IT WENT DOWN, DOWN, DOWN!

Protestors knelt on its neck for nine minutes, like what happened to George Lloyd, which must’ve been a LOT, emotionally.

And then they CHUCKED IT IN THE WATER where his SLAVE SHIPS used to port.

I can’t even write that sentence without the burn of pain and rage under the fierce glee of getting rid of the fucking statue.

Priti Patel, the always-awful Home Secretary, urged the police to respond, but the mayor of Bristol and the police seem understanding, so fingers crossed nobody gets arrested for it.

Also LMAO:

And Wikipedia pic.twitter.com/S659GT1IZJ

— Harvey 🚜🇬🇧 (@MccartneyHarvey) June 7, 2020

It’s easy to overstate the importance of symbolism, but I’m just gonna savour this moment for a sec.

Comments

[ruinsplume]

This is an absolutely excellent post on the distinction between remembering history and commemorating/endorsing it. I hope you'll post it on Tumblr or some other platform with a broader audience than this one because it deserves to be widely read! (or, idk, maybe you have a thousand dw followers, in which case forgive me for presuming!)

[lunabee34]

I had the same thought while reading this. It's a really good distinction.

[pauraque]

The disingenuous pearl-clutching in some of those twitter responses is pretty amusing/infuriating. "Without statues how will we remember our history!!" Um... ever consider cracking open a book?

[lynnenne]

ever consider cracking open a book?

I know, right??? Thousands of books have been written about Hitler but nobody’s clamouring for a statue of him in Piccadilly Circus.

[torino10154]

I saw that yesterday and cheered. So fantastic. As someone with a history degree I appreciate things of historical value... and only the statue's end is worth a damn thing!

[oracne]

This is exquisitely delightful. *spits after statue*

[lydy]

There was a tweet that ran, roughly, "When they came for the statues, I said nothing because I was not a statue, and --- I cannot stress this enough --- no one is a statue."

[lynnenne]

Hahahahaha!

[eggsbenedict]

This is such a good post about it. I also particularly enjoyed the mayor's response - you can love a place and still be critical of your lived experience in it.

[lynnenne]

Protestors knelt on its neck for nine minutes, like what happened to George Lloyd, which must’ve been a LOT, emotionally.

Wow. That one act has more symbolism than a statue ever could.

[drazzi]

This is excellent news :3

But like I'm dumb and want to learn, so I have to ask;
Britain is in such deep denial about the slave trade, and how much of our wealth today is built on it.
Are...we though...?

I mean, I might be like out of that loop/naive about it, because it me.
But like also because Liverpool is pretty damn open about being a part of the Slave Trade triangle. We learnt about it pretty extensively when I was in school, and the Maritime Museum had a whole floor dedicated to the Slave Trade and Liverpool's part in it since my childhood - until we made a whole museum about it instead.

I guess I'm saying like for me that's been common knowledge in my life so much I can't imagine people being in denial about it. Or I'm taking words too literally again.

[therealsnape]

I loved reading your post, and I was thrilled to see the statue go; it felt as if something is really going to shift a bit right now.

Now I hope the protests in the Netherlands will also mean a more critical look both at our past (slave trade) and what we do today. I see a lot of 'it's awful what happens in the US'. It is, but we have a house of our own to clean.

[trepkos]

This was a great thing to see! And Aunty Priti's speech about how she suffered racism too would have cut a lot more ice if her solution hadn't been to join the party of the Hostile Environment.