We don’t want historic statues to tear apart our future
DEBATING whether the Rhodes statue at Oxford University should fall yesterday, I was struck by the eloquence of Mercy Muroki, a young black conservative woman.
She made the point it’s not a question of if some of these monuments come down, but how that is most important. That’s how our generation will be remembered.
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Appearing on my talkRADIO show, the Oxford student explained: “I think how we take them down says a lot about our society. And I don’t think that having them taken down on the whims of a group of angry protestors says something positive about how we’re engaging with it.”
These are painful and complicated and nuanced discussions.
And while the mob who unlawfully chucked Edward Colston to the bottom of Bristol harbour have sparked this debate, that’s not how I believe these decisions should be made again.
With 60 more statues in the sights of activists – and even question marks about whether Winston Churchill should remain pride of place at Westminster – if we’re not careful this weekend could become very messy, with more Black Lives Matter protests planned and the far right vowing to protect memorials.
Colston and Rhodes are one thing but for most Brits the desecration of monuments to Queen Victoria and Churchill are quite another.
I implore both sides to take a deep breath and think if this is the right way to engage in a democratic society.
The police must also be better prepared for what might be coming. It’s totally unacceptable that 62 officers were injured last weekend, partly because of a lack of riot gear because bosses didn’t want to appear provocative.
At present, which statues get targeted by activist groups seems more than a little curious.
On the hit list of Topple the Racists is Charles Grey, the prime minister who was in charge when slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833.
Why? Because financial reparations were not paid to the ex-slaves but rather white ex-slave owners.
Labour city councils appear to be making knee jerk decisions based on perceived public pressure without robust democratic processes.
My local Tower Hamlets Council removed the statue of the “slave trader” Robert Milligan from West India Quay yesterday.
As far as I can tell that decision was based on a petition signed by 4,500 folk and a threat by Labour councillor Ehtasham Haque to organise a daily protest.
Milligan’s support of slavery, especially in Jamaica, was repulsive. It’s probably right that this statue is moved. But it has stood since 1813 to mark his role in developing the West India Docks, so there’s time for a democratic process to go on.
The bigger picture in all of this is the desperate need for more discussion about our relationship with our past.
Trying to gloss over historic mistakes and barbarism from another time does little to provoke modern understanding of what went on and why so much of our history must not be repeated.
We don’t want historic statues to tear apart our future.