What should replace the Colston statue in Bristol? | Page 9 | Vital Football

What should replace the Colston statue in Bristol?

I’ll be a little bit controversial here but say that this statue issue is just topic of the month and in a few weeks, the vast majority will have moved on to the next topic of the month.

Those who have always had issues with it like Afua Hirsh will continue to be a voice in the wilderness.

Many of the outraged will soon be outraged by something else .

Of course. Jamal and Tayshaun don't care about statues. A statue was removed from Canary Wharf last week - I worked there for 10 years and would have walked passed it loads of times, and I didn't even notice it was there

Someone was shot to death in Shepherds Bush this week. BAU
 
It's been pulled out of the harbour and will be put in a museum. Best place for it, I
reckon.

It is important to recognise the history and not just airbrush out any unsavoury aspects. People need to be educated about why the Colston was memorialised in the first place (the fact that he definitely was a great philanthropist whose money helped build the city; Bristolians of the time would have wanted to honour him). And the reasons why, 126 years later, modern day Bristolians were affronted by the presence of his statue and resorted to taking direct action to remove it.

Loads of important history there. Definitely pleased it's going in a museum.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-53004748


Agreed, apart from the methodology used to pull it down and chuck it in the river.
 
Seriously, how many statues of men of the 18th & 19th Century do people pass without knowing (or caring ) who they are ?

While people do notice stone blobs and rusting iron installed in the name of "art" and wonder "why?".

Surely there are higher priorities for taxpayer money than moving statues ?

Removing statues for perceived "offence" comes from the same play book as book burning.
Have they read 1984 ?
Have they seen Soviet era photos with dis-approved people removed ?

But if people are that bothered .... go through the "proper channels"....
....but don't expect everyone to approve spending the money !
(Presumably Labour controlled Bristol Council had other priorities)


Now it seems to be open season on anyone with a tenuous "link" to slavery.
 
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We certainly don't want to waste too much time on it. There is merit in the debate, discussion and hopefully there will be further removal of the more distasteful statues. But as others have said, there are very pressing social issues of today that need to be dealt with right now. Racism is one, poverty is another.

Baden-Powell
 
I am reminded during this period of my visit to South Africa and the plight of the Black South Africans under a white apartheid government and how disgracefully they were treated in their homeland, 2nd class citizens, no way they were way below that figure and yet there are still statues for example of Kruger and Rhodes both of whom had history against the South African tribes in prominent positions in the State.
Mandela believed former oppressors should be embraced not punished, when asked about renaming the Kruger national park and the removal of certain statues in the country.
He looked forward to the challenges they would face in the future and not to dwell in the past.
I never expected the government of South Africa following the end of the apartheid era to work miracles, there is still a long way to go but they have been released from a period of history that few other nations have suffered so appallingly.
 
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Baden-Powell
Since you mention Baden-Powell......

Apparently his "link" to Nazi Germany was an invitation to meet von Ribbentrop at the German Embassy in November 1937.
(It wasn't as if B-P made a special trip to Germany)

Apparently von Ribbentrop wanted closer links with the Hitler Youth.
There seems to be no evidence that B-P wanted a connection.

What modern-day activists don't seem to get when foaming about such "links" is:
- Jews hadn't been gassed yet
- Concentration camps hadn't been formed
- Czechoslovakia hadn't been occupied (1938 and 1939)
- England Football players had not yet given the Nazi salute to their hosts (May 1938)

The meeting was 6 months after the Hindenburg exploded in New Jersey after a normal Atlantic crossing
....a year after Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals at the Berlin Olympics
....at which many athletes had given the Nazi salute.

These salutes have left a bad taste - despite it being probable that most visitors were merely being polite to the hosts.

Such are "links".