To build a city where racism and inequality no longer exist, we must start by acknowledging Bristol's dark past and removing statues, portraits and names that memorialise a man who benefitted from trading in human lives. “It’s always made me feel inferior, it’s always made me feel like I shouldn’t hold my head up.”. [11] 23 models from sculptors were proposed to the committee, from which Cassidy's was selected. “You just can’t let the mob rule,” said George Bochetto, a lawyer who filed the petition. But she added, “It is indefensible to try to erase that history by pulling down something that is very dear and very symbolic for the culture of Italian-Americans in Philadelphia.”. It depicted about a hundred supine figures arranged as on a slave ship, lying as if they were cargo, surrounded by a border listing jobs typically done by modern-day slaves such as 'fruit picker' and 'nail bar worker'; it remained for some months. "[17][22][23], In a 2014 poll in the local newspaper, the Bristol Post, 56% of the 1,100 respondents said it should stay while 44% wanted it to go. As an official of the Royal African Company from 1680 to 1692, he was also involved in the transportation of approximately 84,000 enslaved African men, women and young children, of whom 19,000 died on voyages from West Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas. The statue, entitled A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020 depicts a Black Lives Matter protester with a raised fist. [37], However, after the plaque was physically produced, its installation was vetoed in March 2019 by Bristol's mayor, Marvin Rees, who criticised the Society of Merchant Venturers for the phrasing. ...the blind spots in Western culture, a collective amnesia which denies the sources of wealth which built such 'trophies of empire', and the ways in which dominant white culture and its people benefit from the exploitation of other cultures and people both overseas and at home. [29] They daubed it in red and blue paint, and one protester placed his knee on the statue's neck to allude to Floyd's death under a knee of a white policeman. [65] On 1 July, a 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage to the statue. “Now everybody saw the opportunity and said, ‘If we don’t get in there and talk like Minneapolis is talking, then we aren’t going to be heard.’”. [50] Rees confirmed that placards left by protesters will be put on display at the M Shed museum in Bristol. [59] They stated they had cleaned the statue to prevent corrosion, and that they plan to exhibit it in a museum without removing the graffiti and ropes placed on it by the protesters. The monument originally consisted of an 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m) bronze statue of Edward Colston (1636–1721) set on top of a 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) plinth. ... A statue of Robert E. Lee was torn down by four protesters at the high school of the same name. [29][45] They also stated that the act was criminal damage and confirmed that there would be an investigation to identify those involved, adding that they were in the process of collating footage of the incident. [27] In 2018, Thangam Debbonaire, Labour MP for Bristol West, wrote to Bristol City Council calling for the removal of the statue. The calls to bring down monuments have spanned far and wide, in large cities like Philadelphia and rural places like Columbus, Miss., touching both relatively obscure historical figures and deeply revered cultural symbols. "[50][57], The Society of Merchant Venturers, in a statement on 12 June, said that "the fact that it [the statue] has gone is right for Bristol. [1][2] The statue depicts Colston in a flowing wig, velvet coat, satin waistcoat, and knee-breeches as was typical in his day. Since this is an … Then a group of white militia members, on a self-appointed mission to protect the statue, showed up with guns. [10] Further funds, to a total of £650, were raised through public appeals after the unveiling, including a contribution from the Society of Merchant Venturers. Birmingham, Ala. And if you scrape that scab a certain way, it reopens the wound.”. [31] Another artistic intervention saw a ball and chain attached to the statue.[32]. 1) there was votes on the statue and the bulk of scrotes involved in removing it were the usual non local proffessional protestor marxist shites that create the bulk of trouble. “We’ve got to move forward, not look back,” he said. [58] The statue was found filled with mud and sediments from the harbour floor. [69][70] On the same day, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan called for London statues and street names with links to slavery to be removed or renamed. In January 1998, "SLAVE TRADER" was written in paint on the base of the statue. He attributed the scope of the burgeoning movement to built-up grief and to the energy of young people who simply are not willing to put up with walking by Confederate and other statues each day. New trends in street names were illustrated in Birmingham last year when the city council approved several housing development streets including: ... the activists ultimately dumping the statue in the local harbour. “We need to have a broader discussion about our history,” said Christine Flowers, a 58-year-old Italian-American immigration lawyer, who was among a group that gathered to protect a statue of Columbus in Philadelphia. 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