There are times I really like our Jury system

You really should stop looking for things that aren’t there.

Other posters have already defended the statue as being erected to celebrate Colston’s philanthropy. Wouldn’t you agree that that’s a whitewashing of his life?

Are you happy to ignore 19000 dead because the guy did some good work for charity?

Now; cards on the table, I don’t agree with the vandalising of statues. But plenty of good people have campaigned for years to have the context of that statue changed. To put history straight. And whilst most believed that something should have been done, nothing was.

In the aftermath of this incident, there’s been a lot of movement on reappraising statues and other monuments, I’m sure you’ll join me in agreeing that’s a good thing, and it shouldn’t have taken an act of vandalism to get that moving.

 

She was a slave trader YTS 25 quid a week

 

But it injured white peoples sensibilities my dear! The rule of law! You know, the same one they ignore when doing 35 in a 30 zone.

 

Prove that someone is guilty of a specific crime beyond reasonable doubt.

 

That’s well explained better than a sound bite

 

Next up, the same people defending Jimmy Saville because of his charity work. LOL.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19822384

It's just not on I tell you!

 

Where is the nearest pit shaft these days?

 

It wasn't wanton vandalism, it was concentrated. Say the Nazis had won the war, and killed and tortured your grandparents in the process. Would you not feel when there was a chance that there might be a change of regime that you might topple a statue?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-56245116

If you've got to put a statue on a 3m high plinth to avoid vandalism in her home town, perhaps you shouldn't be wasting the money in the first place.

The plinth is there, but they've still not had the balls to stick the statue on it.

 

I don’t think he was responsible for all of them and as others have pointed out if you pull down the statues of everyone who benefited from slavery there won’t be any left. No one is defending slavery we’re talking about the way in which you face up to the past

 

So how many was he responsible for?
How many dead black people is acceptable to you?
Is 1 statue worth 10 black lives? 20? 2000?

 

Wanton or "concentrated," vandalism is vandalism.And i try not to answer hypothetical questions about the Third Reich but my answer would be no, because i`m not a vandal.

 

If everyone believed in the status quo as much as you did, we'd all still be in dark ages.

 

See, I think I would in my hypocritical situation if I was caught up in the feeling of their being the opportunity for change. I'd have hated walking past the flags and statues knowing how my ancestors had been killed and tortured by them even if none of the original perpetrators were alive .

 

But would you accept that what you were doing was illegal?

 

How many people have to be offended by anything before it's ok to do whatever they want to eradicate it. Can i write a letter to the council saying i don't agree with something, then go and damage it in the name of "good"

 

You're getting too much into the hypotheticals here, let's stick with the facts. The statue was of a slaver, killed 19,000 black people. Can you imagine being black in Bristol and having to walk past an ode to this person everyday? Someone who systemarically killed your ancestors and treated them worse than livestick, being celebrated in your home city.

There is no equivalent for a white Brit here, as Britain has always been the oppressor. I'd suggest not seeing the want to remove this statue and anger caused by it at best shows a lack of commpassion and at worst is pretty racist.

 

Even something as simple as taking the knee is problematic. Some people pay lip service to tackling racism but don't seem to want anything to change to accomplish this. As has been pointed out, it didn't lead to a load of statues and monuments being damaged. It was a time of direct action to finally secure a decision that should have been made decades ago.

 

@CarltonRed
I can’t quote your post cos you broke my quote and messed it up.

If you’d read my other posts you’d know I’m not in favour of vandalism.

However; viewed through the lens of history; after decades of discussion about how we should contextualise statues and memorials to slavers, the country moved very quickly to do ‘the right thing’. And I believe that outcome is excellent, and probably worth one act of vandalism.

but back to my question; I was responding to phrase you wrote that Colston wasn’t responsible for ‘all’ the deaths of slaves.
And I believe that my question deserves a response. If you’re prepared to accept that Colston was responsible for ‘some’ deaths of black people along with suffering of thousands of others, how many dead black people are you happy to accept as OK.