It’s inspiring to see the movement in the UK petitioning the removal of statues that glorify slave traders and colonialists.
I hope we look back and wonder, “How did we ever let these statues stand for so long?”
It’s easy to assume that those memorialised in statues did good for the world, but it’s a fragile illusion. We don’t need to look far to find despicable deeds behind some of those statues.
Take Edward Colston, for example, a man who forcibly ripped 100,000 people from their home, the African continent, to sell them in the Americas. I cannot imagine the immeasurable pain he inflicted on their families and descendants. Yet, his statue was allowed to stand in a place of pride in Bristol for 125 years before it was torn down and thrown into the harbour this weekend.
Removing these statues is just the beginning, though. It’s the first step in a process to look back at history, analyse the actions of those that came before us, and remove from places of honour those that don’t deserve to stand as symbols of a fair, just, and honourable society.