When a country has been built on the proceeds obtained by using human beings for labour without compensation, has never considered them as human beings, only tools to acquire enormous wealth for themselves, then it is believed one has the right to use those humans and their descendants in like manner for perpetuity.
Building a country and accruing wealth based on exploitation of human beings, and raping their women, and their lands, brings with it no conscience on the part of the inheritors of such wealth because they were not around when it all happened, and therefore place the blame on their ancestors. Convenient.
This history is passed on from generation to generation, to rich and poor, forming in the mind of the hearers that the black race, and any other non-white race is inferior, and is regarded as nothing. It is still an entrenched belief today within the U.K.
The toppling of the Edward Colston statue, slave trader, philanthropist, from its position in the Bristol Town Centre, is indicative of the anger felt by the black community towards a past Bristolian figure who profited from the sale of their ancestors of black African or black Caribbean origin.
The decision by the relevant authority to erect the statute, and the controversy that had risen over the years surrounding Edward Colston's involvement in the slave trade, sheds light on the fact that the Bristolian slave trader, philanthropist, is of greater significance than the innocent slaves which brought him profit. Yes, I agree, by his financial support
he brought in to being many wonderful social institutions etc. for the development of Bristol, but at a human price.
However, the contention I have with the toppling of the statue is that it is the malicious destruction of property which does not represent the cry of the Black Lives Matter Movement. It is bad enough to hear of the disproportionate criminal and incarceration rate of black men/women in the U.K., then see bandwagonists use the Movement to defy the law, by pulling down, causing destruction to, and defacing the statue under the pretence it is in the name of Black Lives Matter. It is an insult to the memory of the late George Floyd. Mr. Floyd was not a criminal.
My second bone of contention is, how dare these ignorant bandwagonists parade the statue in the streets like a spoil of conquest, then throw the statue in the harbour to disturb the spirit of my ancestors, and those of my fellow black brothers and sisters. I am glad the police were on spot to see where the statue was thrown into the harbour. I will never support idiotic bandwagonists who use a anti-racism protest, as an excuse, to carry out criminal activity. The criminal action of those idiots, I hope, will not reinforce yet again the view, that black lives don't matter. If it were possible, all of those responsible should be rounded up and persuaded to assist in retrieving the statue from the harbour. I want my ancestors to rest in peace.
I am in full support of The Black Lives Matter Movement, but what concerns me is the distortion of its true meaning, by publicity seeking opportunists with symbolic gesturing, who have not the slightest conviction of how it feels to be a disregarded item in a society due to the fact that one is of a black complexion.
The late Mr. Edward Colston is dead and gone, but his legacy lives on in Bristol, and with those who respect his memory. Within the ambit of the law, what are the black people of Bristol going to do to ensure that the legacy of THEIR ancestors lives on in Bristol too?
Peace
Grace
