The Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph think that getting rid of statues which celebrate slavery is "taking away our history". This is an interesting piece of sophistry.
When I was at school there was a text book which said, "It is important to remember that in those days nobody objected to the slave trade." I don't think so. I doubt if the slaves were consulted. Or did their opinion not matter?
Getting rid of rubbish history books like that is not "taking away" anybody's history. It is just trying to improve on the teaching of the subject. What lessons do the Mail and Telegraph think can be learnt from racist statues? Is it perhaps a way to justify the archaic opinions of their readers and journalists?
I do not define bringing down a statue as violence. I expect even Priti Patel would think twice about having a statue of Hitler in Parliament Square. People have been asking the Bristol council to remove the statue for decades. Nothing had been done. It has now. The Chartists had a slogan: "Peaceably if we may, forcibly if we must."
Removing the statues is a start. Removing racism will take longer but as the song says, we shall overcome.
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