While Banksy Proposes a Replacement for Bristol's Colston Statue Others Say Topple the Racists

As thousands of demonstrators gathered in largely peaceful protests in cities across the UK at the weekend, including in Manchester, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh, as early as last week Banksy lent support to the Black Lives movement with a powerful piece of art of a vigil candle burning an American flag. and a stark message,which read: 'At first I thought I should just shut up and listen to black people about this issue.'But why would I do that? It's not their problem, it's mine.'
He continued: 'People of colour are being failed by the system. The white system. Like a broken pipe flooding the apartment of the people living downstairs. The faulty system is making their life a misery, but it's not their job to fix it. They can't - no-one will let them in the apartment upstairs.
'This is a white problem. And if white people don't fix it, someone will have to come upstairs and kick the door in.'  https://www.instagram.com/banksy/

Banksy returned to Instagram to share another piece and proposal surrounding the controversial and now-toppled statue of  Edward Colston in Bristol. Colston was a 17th-century slave trader that was responsible for having transported over 80,000 enslaved individuals between 1672 and 1689. Around 20,000 of them, including some 3,000 or more children, died during the transatlantic journeys.
The statue has stood in Bristol's city center since 1895- 170 years after his death – to celebrate his (debatable) philanthropic work. The plaque on the statue insists that it was “erected by citizens of Bristol as a memorial of one of the most virtuous and wise sons of their city.”  But it had become increasingly controversial  with petitions created to demand for its removal This past Sunday,anti-racist  protestors took down the statue of Colston from its pedestal, located in the center of Bristol, and tossed it to the bottom of the Avon River, as jubilant cheers roared across the city centre and harbourside.

The elusive street artist and fellow Bristol-native Banksy shared an excellent idea for filling the gap left and commemorating the important moment in his latest work saying : “What should we do with the empty plinth in the middle of Bristol?” The artist expanded upon his suggestion, expressing: “Here’s an idea that caters for both those who miss the Colston statue and those who don’t. We drag him out the water, put him back on the plinth, tie cable round his neck and commission some life size bronze statues of protestors in the act of pulling him down. Everyone happy. A famous day commemorated.”
Others meanwhile  have suggested the controversial torn-down statue should be replaced with a tribute to prominent civil rights campaigner Paul Stephenson, 83.More than 18,000 people have signed a petition calling for a statue of Mr Stephenson to be installed on the now-empty plinth where  the controversial Colston sculpture once stood. Mr Stephenson led the Bristol Bus Boycott in 1963 after a company refused to employ black drivers and conductors. The 60-day protest eventually led to the company revoking its colour bar.
Another suggested replacement is that of Bristol pioneer Roy Hackett, a civil right's hero, co-founder of the Commonwealth Co-ordinate Committee (CCC) and founder of St Pauls Carnival. It has also been suggested the city should install a memorial to the thousands of West Africans who died aboard ships during Colston's time as Deputy Governor of the Royal African Company..
While Banksy’s post is receiving many positive responses, the removal of Colston’s statue is also  part of a widening global conversation about racially insensitive, invasive monuments that scar cities and towns across the West, many glorifying the men who profited from slave trade throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, with many Europeans now contemplating their history with slavery.  . The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, made an official address to evaluate of all London statues that have ties to slavery. BBC News recently reported that another statue of a slaveholder by the name of Robert Milligan has been vandalized and removed from outside the Museum of London Docklands.

 And students in Oxford have become freshly interested in taking down a statue of  white supremacist Cecil Rhodes on their own campus. This is just one example of how the removal of sculptures in one place can trigger renewed critical interest in an entirely different physical location, and given the global nature of the protests that are currently ongoing, it’s likely that many more monuments to long-dead oppressors will be torn down in the future.
Anti-racism protesters have also drawn up a map of 60 “statues and other memorials to slave owners and colonialists need to be removed so Britain can finally face the truth about its past – and how it shapes our present”.Monuments on the “Topple the Racists” list published by the Stop Trump coalition in support of the Black Lives Matter protests and maps out  statues across Britain which pay tribute to slave traders and "racists". ans include statues of slave pioneers, Francis Drake, Robert Blake, and Horatio Nelson, at Goldsmiths College, and statues of Christopher Columbus and William Gladstone.

The group said: "We believe these statues and other memorials to slave-owners and colonialists need to be removed so that Britain can finally face the truth about its past – and how it shapes our present.
They said they were inspired to start the map by the actions of the protesters in Bristol.
"Statues are exercises of public adoration. And Edward Colston made his fortune in the slave trade.
"He was part of a system of mass murder, torture and human suffering.
"We must learn from, not venerate, this terrible chapter in British colonial history."
The list of statues and street names range from statues of Christopher Columbus in Belgravia, London, the famed explorer who colonised America to stained glass windows in Cambridge and street names in Croydon. There is also a petition gaining momentum  here in Wales to end commemoration of colonial murderer 'Sir' Thmas Picton , which you can sign below
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/251/323/762/end-commemoration-of-colonial-murderer-%E2%80%98sir%E2%80%99-thomas-picton-picton-memorial-carmarthen/?taf_id=65923067&cid=fb_na
Statues commemorating racist and colonial figures such as officials of the confederate army and slave traders are also being removed across the world either by protestors or local authorities. though the existence of many of these has already been the subject of nationwide debate, particularly in the US, the push to remove them has emerged from the ongoing, worldwide demonstrations protesting racial inequality and police brutality. in richmond, virginia, the state-owned statue of robert e. lee, a leader of the confederate army, has been covered in graffiti amid the protests, while on june 4, governor ralph northam announced plans to remove the statue:

''when a young child looks up and sees something that big and prominent, she knows that it’s important,’ northam said in a press conference. ‘and when it’s the biggest thing around, it sends a clear message: this is what we value the most. but that’s just not true anymore. in virginia, we no longer preach a false version of history. one that pretends the civil war was about “state rights” and not the evils of slavery. no one believes that any longer. and in 2020, we can no longer honor a system that was based on the buying and selling of enslaved people. in 2020! I want us all to tell the little girl the truth. yes, that statue has been there for a long time. but it was wrong then, and it is wrong now. so, we’re taking it down.’
All this comes amid the recent Black Lives Matter protests that have taken place in the wake of the murder of George Floyd who died after a white police officer held him down by pressing his knee into his neck for almost nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25. His death has sparked days of protests around the world and  as a result, for now these dark shameful, dehumanising symbols  of empire, oppression and racism  are coming down.It's not a case of erasing history, but  of correcting past injustices and betrayals, recognising the ongoing legacy of slavery, the horrors of colonial expansion, least of all the violence against people of colour, or forgetting who was responsible for some of thee greatest human rights abuses in history. The struggle is long and arduous, but we can still celebrate small victories along the way.