Colston: The First Domino to Fall
On June 7th, Edward Colston took a deep dive. He once stood tall as a venerated, 18ft bronze statue on his eponymous avenue, but now finds himself a fallen enemy of the public.
We have all seen the photos and videos that swamped the internet following his toppling from his previous pedestal in Bristol. It was an iconic moment. Speaking to a bristolian friend of mine I discovered that after years of being ignored by the council, the people of Bristol saw the BLM protests as an opportunity to take matters into their own hands. Crowds cheered as the statue of an opulent slave trader was removed but it was and still is a bittersweet pill to swallow. As many brits began to scour the country, top to bottom, in search of other statues that commend the efforts of slave traders and imperialists alike, it begs the question – why do these statues still exist in 21st century Britain, a supposedly ‘progressive’ nation?
The answer lies in the biggest flaw of British education, a fundamental flaw at that. ‘History is written by the victors’ a fitting quote which is ironically attributed to Winston Churchill, another guilty party. As one of the most modern countries in the world it is surprising how our education system commends the successes of several iconic historical figures – Churchill (Bengal famine, Boer concentration camps, treatment of Africa and South Asia, chemical assault on the Kurds and Afghans), Gandhi (indecency, rape, racism) , Roald Dahl (strong Anti-Semitic views), Colombus (slavery and a racist murderer, coloniser) – but seemingly ‘forgets’ to mention their dark sides, instead choosing to omit them.
We live in a world where information is readily available and so accessible that it almost seems preposterous that statues of well esteemed slave traders and colonisers have existed in public spaces for so long.
There are those who question why now? Why during a pandemic? And why was Edward Colston the first statue to fall? The painful answer is that not enough people know or think to care about the history of the statues that surround us every day. I believe the nation is naïve, myself included. We have such busy and fast paced lifestyles that the energy in our lives dedicated to researching statues and their origins is reserved for a trip to the museum or a history lesson. We have fallen short as a society in many ways and there is a current sentiment that we must correct our ways, the black lives matter is evidence of this. It is clear to most people that the pandemic coupled with the video recording of the murder of the late George Floyd have contributed greatly to the global outrage, but it is neither here nor there. The current momentum is powerful, it is needed and it must continue because the world cannot afford another decade or century of global oppression and discrimination.
Whilst some of the public, who ironically didn’t know about Colston before this incident, are against the destruction of the statue, the general global response is to remove similar statues. In a week since the event occurred several changes across the world have been implemented – Robert Milligan statue removed, multiple King Leopoled II statues have been removed, Liverpool Uni will rename Gladstone halls, Plymouth will rename Sir John Hawkins Square, Colston Girls’ School have removed their Colston statue and are in talks to rename their school – and this is only a snippet of the current international debate on celebrating historical figures linked to slavery. Out of empathy and fear of backlash, many communities are reviewing and removing certain offensive statues, but recent events have not quite led to the removal of the Cecil Rhodes statue. Cecil Rhodes and his statues have been a point of contention internationally for a few years and sparked the Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) campaign. The outrage at institutional racism in Oxford and its eponymous university have not been enough to get rid of the statue as many still believe his legacy and impact on Oxford are a defence for his statue to remain.
The important thing to remember is that no one is ‘erasing history’, we have history lessons and museums to remember historical figures. Imperialists are glorified in a teaching of history that so blatantly ignores their countless wrongdoings and incites a patriotism that is so wrongly placed. As a worldwide community we must accept the wrongdoings of the past and take public accountability to move forward and create real change.
A statue signifies a celebration and is a way of creating a legacy, but certain historical figures deserve to be remembered not valorised, despite their impacts in the world. We all love a statue, just not one of an imperialist slave trader.
Written by Melvin Boateng
A student of the University of Bath but a Londoner through and through. #BlackLivesMatter
Thank you to Alistair Stuart Campbell for letting us use his incredible photo. You can see more of his work HERE.