Well....I'm not ashamed.

I feel conflicted by this debate. My innate disgust over slavery, making money from slavery, makes me ashamed of my past as a Bristolian. Perhaps in the same way the Germans do over the events of the more recent 20th Century. But, I do not agree with airbrushing this from history. Renaming the Colston Hall, token gesture, but appropriate. I would not take down Colston's statue on the Centre, it is part of our history. I might change the wording on the plaque.

For sure, we were not alone in profiting from this. To be honest, I doubt very much street names like Blackboy Hill or Whiteladies Rd invoke memories of racism or slavery.
But Colston does, very specifically.
So leave his statue on the Centre, maybe reword the plaque. Nothing dramatic but there for all future generations to be made aware.

Yeah maybe
Its just that Colston phenomena was very specifically Bristolian.
Not sure the abolition was?

Thanks, It reminds me of a vicar telling us Christ died for our sins and me thinking 'but I haven't done anything wrong and I'm only 5!'
These so called intellectuals and 'pillars of society' seem to want to contaminate us with guilt which at a guess has led lots of people to have mental health issues.

I just mean guilt and mental health connection i.e. self harm

I'll put my neck out here and suggest that most of Bristols self harming population are not even loosely doing so due to some notion of inherited guilt about the slave trade.

I genuinely laughed out loud when you two guys interpreted that I said people that self harm do so because of the slave trade. Self harm, unjustified self guilt,nothing to do with the slave trade, bigger picture guys please.

Sure, of course.
But you linked it Al, to the topic title, not us.

Yes I can understand my part in it, but the purpose of the opening post was to give an example of how influential people can put completely unjustified guilt onto others. That's why I gave another example which happened to be religious.Of course parents can be influential to their children and can do much the same thing. Shame imo is a massively negative feeling, (are you truly ashamed about the slave trade Oldie because you happened to be born in Bristol?) and when placed upon innocent people, for me, it corrupts society. I work with a German girl who is lovely but she has had complete strangers give her abuse because of Hitler and the war, she is 23, wtf? My attitude for what it's worth is that we are all individuals and therefore only responsible for our behaviour not other people's. So for me it's not George the Jamaican, Jana the German or Oldie the Bristolian, it's George, Jana and Oldie.