People are so excited by Oxford deciding to remove another statue, when will they realize that they can't change what happened years ago.
Spend the time, money and effort to tackle modern day slavery, it is still rife in Africa, India, and yes in the UK.
https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/slavery-uk/
Do you really think that anybody who wants the statue removed thinks that removing the statue will change what happened in the past?
I think that rather than wanting to change the past they want to change the present and influence the future.
You're right about tackling modern slavery, that is far more important than removing a statue. But just because it is more important doesn't suddenly mean that it is pointless in removing statues from places of prominence and putting them into museums instead.
Anybody who wants to try to simply erase the past is clearly not only misguided but also very short-sighted. As we know, the past shouldn't just be rewritten.
But I don't think anybody wants to rewrite the past. This isn't about editing out our nation's shameful history, it is quite obvious that so much of the country's wealth has been created through ill-gotten gains. That cannot be changed but it can be recognised. One way of recognising this is by refusing to accept any longer that certain individuals who were once deemed worthy of celebrating and memorialising are now rather anachronistic. The nation's values and ideals have changed (and are continuing to change) and as such it makes no sense to laud individuals who were involved in activities that are now considered (but in reality always were, even if they were not at the time considered to be) immoral.
Removing statues does nothing at all to change the past but it can help to change the future purely and simply because of the symbolism it demonstrates. The Rhodes statue at Oxford has been controversial and people have been calling for it to be removed for some time, same as the Colston statue - none of this is new. All that has changed is the political climate. Right now there is a huge movement against racism. Removing statues wont on its own solve the issue of racism, but it can help the cause because of the symbolism.
Education is key. All the media attention around the removal of statues will in itself have educated many people to some extent. I wonder just how many people had never before heard of Rhodes or Colston, let alone known about their involvement in the slave trade? I also reckon that there will be some people who never really properly considered the horror of slavery before but have now become more aware of the past as a result of the last couple of weeks. This can only be a good thing.
But it is only a start. It's no good just removing statues. The statues must not be got rid of, they just need to be moved to a more appropriate place. They should not be standing proud on our streets or adorning buildings and institutions. That gives the impression that they're to be revered or celebrated. They should not be; they don't represent something to be proud of they represent a shameful past. Put them in museums and make it compulsory that schools visit the museums and children are taught the truth about how this tiny country gained such wealth and power. Teach them about how this country was the first to have an industrial revolution and how this, coupled with colonialism and the slave trade, were crucial in making Britain such a wealthy nation.