George Floyd - America so f**ked up

Whether it idolises is a projection of your imagination- it can just as easily revile.

Maybe a lot of people on this feed may recognise that there is a vast difference between statues that idolise slave traders, and buildings that were built due to that slave trader's money. There is a clear difference. We are willing to accept that Colston's Hall exists and a lot of modern culture and society throughout the world is built on the back of racial hatred and slavery. What is not acceptable is statues that idolise these slave traders and portray them as heroes of some sort. Pure and holy human beings.

Now you are making it up

So, it hasnt happened?
And, if it starts to happen by one section of the community then....

It's great that your way won't occur then. I'm sure if Germany resurrected an Adolf Hitler statue you would go absolutely manick. There is a clear and cut line between those who deserve statues and those who certainly do not. Edward Colston falls very heavily into the "not" category. A man whose whole life revolved around causing misery to black people. University buildings very clearly don't idolise Edward Colston, statues do. It's absolutely bonkers to me that anyone would see taking down the statue of a slave trader as anything but a good thing. I'm sure these people would have been the same to support Enoch Powell or Oswald Mosley decades back, or dismiss the overall message of a movement due to violence just like people did with Martin Luther King in the 60s. 

I don’t know if it has happened, I haven’t lived in Bristol for a bloody long time so I have no idea what they teach kids these days! I am just saying that if it were down to me (and that’s the key point) I would keep the statue but make it mandatory that kids should learn about Bristol’s role in the slave trade as a means of promoting tolerance, that way some good may come of it.

Where would you start?

It’s only you who is using the term “idolises”, you don’t have a monopoly on objective reality.

A statue is easily removable. It's easily unusable. It's literally just there for decorative purposes. Of course you have to recognise Bristol's deep and dark racist history because it's obviously true that Bristol was built on the back of the exploitation of thousands of people just due to the colour of their skin. No one is asking for Edward Colston's name to be taken out of the history pages, hell, I personally don't have an issue with Colston School and Colston Hall being named after him, even though it's very changeable, because he is a central part of the city's history. But he is a clear example of the ugly side of this country's history.
Our school system and culture does a very good job at hiding the hundreds of years of atrocities the Empire committed, so it's no wonder that I'm sure many people know the name "Colston" but are complete oblivious to how Mr. Colston accrued his wealth.