As a lover of history, I definitely don't like the destruction of these statues. I understand the negative feelings these statues arouse in a large proportion of the world's population, but why must we destroy these works of art? Why not remove them to a museum and name that museum, something like "Museum of Horrors" or similar? I believe, as matters stand today, June 11, 2020, there are lists being drawn up to rename thousands of streets the world over, streets that were dedicated to slave traders and anyone the BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) movement deemed unsavory.
Below, stuff on the statues and street names uproar :
London Removes Slave Trader Statue
A statue of Robert Milligan, an 18th century slave trader, was
removed from its plinth outside a London museum on Tuesday after global
anti-racism protests triggered a debate about how Britain commemorates
its imperial past.
Statues glorifying slave traders and
colonialists have come into sharp focus in recent days, as part of a
broader movement inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests that
started in the United States following the death of George Floyd.
“While
it’s a sad truth that much of our city and nation’s wealth was derived
from the slave trade, this does not have to be celebrated in our public
spaces,” said London Mayor Sadiq Khan in a tweet with a photo of the
statue.
Earlier, Khan ordered a review of statues and street names
across London, in response to mass protests in the city and elsewhere......
Confederate Statues Taken Down Across the Nation
Confederate statues are coming down across the country. Some have
been removed by order, while others have been toppled by force.
On Wednesday, a monument depicting four generic Confederate service
members in Portsmouth, Virginia was the latest target.....
Watch: Statues under attack as Europe confronts colonial past
One was torn down and thrown in a river. Another set alight. Many more daubed in graffiti.
Statues
are under attack, and the debate over monuments to controversial
figures of the past has been thrust into the limelight in the fallout
from the death of George Floyd and the impassioned protest movement it
spawned across the world.
And
while defenders of statues dedicated to slave traders and colonists
argue you cannot “erase history”, authorities appear to be starting to
listen to the protesters that say they are an everyday reminder of
racism and subjugation.
In the
widespread racial justice protests that have spread from Minneapolis in
the US where George Floyd died, activists have been targeting statues
and monuments. In the English city of Bristol, a statue of slave trader
Edward Colston was toppled by a crowd and thrown into the river - a
symbolic act according to Bristol’s mayor Marvin Rees.....
Belgians demand removal of King Leopold II statues
Thousands of people in Belgium are demanding the removal of statues
celebrating the reign of the nation's former ruler, King Leopold II, as
the country faces up to its controversial past.
In Antwerp, a
statue of Leopold has been taken down after it was repeatedly vandalized
during Black Lives Matters protests, which have taken place across
Europe in the aftermath of the death of black American George Floyd, who
was killed by a white police officer in the U.S..
But for many
that isn't enough. All over Belgium, roads, squares, statues and other
public monuments are named after the monarch, who ruled the country
between 1865 and 1909, but his reign has now come under scrutiny,
notably his role in the deaths of 10 million people.......
Statues Fall as Countries Confront their Racist History
London/Washington: With a mix of pent-up fury and sudden
elation, the protesters who toppled a bronze statue of the 17th-century
slave trader, Edward Colston, in the UK’s Bristol, recalled the angry
crowds that brought down statues of Saddam Hussain, Stalin and even King
George III.
But when these demonstrators dumped the monument of Colston into
Bristol Harbor with a splash, they also forced Britain to consider how
to confront its racist history at a moment when many of the same
questions are being asked in the US and elsewhere in Europe. So a more
precise parallel to London’s events, perhaps, is not Saddam or Stalin,
but the removal of statues of Confederate generals in city squares
across the......
This from September 2018
Statue Wars
ape Town was the first. In March 2015, a student named Chumani
Maxwele brought a bucket filled with shit to the University of Cape
Town, where there stood a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the British diamond
magnate, colonial politician and avowed white supremacist. “There is no
collective history here – where are our heroes and ancestors?” Maxwele
announced. He splashed the contents of the bucket over the monument.
The incident attracted national attention and within days had grown
into a full-scale protest. Students covered the Rhodes statue with
graffiti and plastic bags, and promised to demonstrate until it was
removed. The statue.....
