Pulling down statues says ‘We’re angry’; now, let’s examine racism
It was an iconic moment: an angry crowd pulling down a large, bronze statue in the city of Bristol and dumping it in the River Avon.
The chances are it’s a scenario that will be followed in other British cities.
The Bristol statue was that of a 17th century slave trader, Edward Colston. His dethronement came during furious reaction to George Floyd’s killing by a white policeman in Minneapolis, USA.
An estimated 137,500 people attended more than 200 street protests across the UK last weekend. Government appeals to observe coronavirus social-distancing rules went for nothing as protestors surged through streets side by side.
While the demonstrations were largely peaceful, there were clashes with police in London and wartime leader Winston Churchill’s statue was vandalised. Such was the anger in Bristol that police did not intervene when the statue was pulled down. Although campaigners acknowledged that Edward Colston spent huge sums for the benefit of Bristol and its people, the fact is his money came from trading African people. Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said the statue was “an affront”.
Elsewhere, a sign said, “Rhodes, You’re Next,” a reference to the imperialist Cecil Rhodes, whose statue at Oxford University has long been a target of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, which began in South Africa.
Rhodes was a student at Oxford and left money to the college after his death in 1902. A scholarship programme in his name has been awarded to more than 8,000 overseas students, known as Rhodes Scholars.
A pub sign of a black man’s head is due to be removed in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The 18th century wood and iron feature is situated at a pub known as The Green Man & Black’s Head Royal Hotel.
The local council approved its removal after an online petition described the depiction as “disgusting racist imagery”.
In Wrexham, the Elilu Yale public house could be renamed to remove the reference to Yale, benefactor of Yale University in the United States, who was involved in Indian Ocean slave trading.
Whatever happens to statues, sculptures and pub names, it is undeniable that Britain is witnessing an unprecedented explosion of long-repressed anger against the treatment of its non-white citizens.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said we are a much less racist society in Britain than we were 40 years ago. Maybe so, but we still have a long, long way to go.
What must take place now is a serious examination and any necessary re-writing of relevant legislation, along with a good hard look at our own social attitudes, which discriminate against people of colour.
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Needing a postage stamp, the old lady put on her coat, picked up her walking stick and set out for the village post office.
Because of the lockdown, there was a queue and she joined at the back. When the customer in front discovered that the old lady just wanted a stamp, he told her, “Use the stamp machine. You don’t have to wait in line for a single stamp.”
“No, thank you,” the old lady said. “The stamp machine can’t ask me about my arthritis.”
This story says a lot about the trials of self-isolation. We can be safe, fed and fully protected, but we are social animals and without human contact, life is barren.
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The problem is that this need makes us vulnerable to people of ill intent, as five old people found in the northeast city of Sunderland when they fell victim to a heartless conwoman.
Asisa Kamali would befriend pensioners in the city centre, walk with them to a cash machine and watch as they inputted their pin number. She would then secretly steal their bank card, later using the numbers she had memorised to steal from their accounts.
Kamali took £1,700 from five oldies, including £800 from a man aged 82.
A police spokesman said that she targeted “the most vulnerable people in our society” in a heartless and disgusting way.
She was sent to prison for 15 months.
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New laws are often met with suspicion by ordinary folk (what are they trying to do to us now?), but there should be a warm welcome for a fresh approach to transplants.
From now on, all adults in England will be deemed to have given consent to donate their organs when they die, unless they state otherwise. This will provide some 700 extra transplants a year.
Families will still be consulted and cultural norms respected.
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Confronted by a would-be mugger, a little old lady cried, “Acts 2:38” (Repent and be baptised and you will be forgiven.) The mugger gave up immediately.
As he handcuffed the villain, the policeman asked why he surrendered to a little old lady. The mugger replied, “She said she had an axe and two .38s.”
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