Protesters

Kind of. Slavery was illegal within England from a case in 1569(!), but rich families took staff from poorer families to serve them - upstairs/downstairs as butlers, cooks, maids, cleaners, etc. They were treated better than slaves and paid for their work, but many were treated as almost the property of the householder. The Royal Family still have staff now that would be almost in the same position as "service"

 

His gravestone/memorial was removed from the graveyard in Scarborough (on the wishes of the family) shortly after the allegations were made public.

 

He's better than any racist as long as he's not racist mate! Just because he made a debatable comparison doesn't make him a bad bloke. Bit of perspective needed.

 

Really we should condemn the acts of vandalism in the name of protest like tearing down a prominent statue in Bristol City Centre of a slave trader...

.....err.. nah!!!

Whilst violence, looting defacing property,arson, damaging and vandalising works of art and statues of people a relative minority despise (e.g. Churchill) is a 'no! no!' in my book it is hard to find any condemnation where the action resulted in little or no confrontation, nobody was hurt and it would be very hard to find anyone who would support keeping a statue of someone who played a major role, and made a fortune from a system that led to the suffering and death of so many people.

Even the fact (as the BBC reported) that he left all his money to charity when he died does not , in my view, in any way exonerate him or absolve him. I do agree with the mayor, that the statue should be retrieved from its watery grave and placed in a museum.

In short we should NOT whitewash history but keep the statue not to revere him (as was the original intent in its previous location) but as a tool for current and future generations to be used as a reference and reminder of the obscenity that was the slave trade.

 

It's puzzling that 'coloured' became an offensive term, but suddenly 'people of colour' is acceptable.

 

Well good on them providing none of them knew what the creppy f*ck was up to in the first place.

 

Not so. Some people (on here) have tried to show balance and/or give explanation for their views. That's all. Some people may be 'dug' in but they are a minority on here. Most people have been polite and sensible and willing to debate I think.

 

Coloured is a term used primarily by white people to describe those that aren't that has derogatory connotations
People of Colour is the accepted term used by people of colour to describe themselves - the same as BAME in the UK.

So "People of Colour" is the equivalent to the native descendants of the original Americans calling themselves "First Nations" (Canada) or "Native Americans" (USA) and we should probably follow their wishes.

 

See Im agreeing with you again, but if Im still on ignore you'll never know

Those people wrote themselves into the history books by doing that and fair play to them. People will read about it in years to come, and the only surprise will be is that we let these statues stay up for so long in the first place. If we want statues to represent the 'best of us', then sh*te like this has to go. I dont agree with Starmer - pulling it down by the people was a far more poignant message than having some blokes in high vis jackets turn up and cart it off on the back of a flatbed truck.

Churchill? Well that is a can of worms.....

 

Not a big deal to keep up with whichever terms they're comfortable with. If I'm honest I hate hearing the n word, but as I've never been called it it's not for me to comment on the way music culture etc has reclaimed it.

 

They must have heard the rumours - we all did as kids. Although discussing it with a colleague from a different part of the country, it suggests the rumours about him were different in different areas - here he was rumoured to be into necrophilia but over there (Stafford/Manchester way) it was paedophilia that was his thing.

 

I know the latest terminology, it's just strange how similar it is to a word that was deemed offensive.

 

No it doesn't.

 

There’s a couple of Wilberforce statues in Hull.

taking down statues isn’t erasing history, in fact taking down a statue as a sign of protest IS history.

 

Lenin never wanted statues of himself anywhere. Unfortunately Stalin ignored this as a way of being seen as Lenin's natural successor.

 

Maybe out at sea is the best place for it, amongst the thousands of corpses branded with his name

 

I look and I see a large majority of white university students. Never worked a day in their life's nevermind know anything about the history of this nation yet spout and share at will on social media drowning out anything over than the agenda they want to push.

Universities are nothing but a breeding ground for far left wing agendas of which we are seeing here.

I hope all that have done anything other than peacefully protest are served with harsh justice by the criminal courts.