Sunday was perhaps one of the most momentous days in Bristol’s history. As you are likely to have heard, the statue of ex-slaver, Edward Colston, which has been standing in the city centre since 1895, was brought down by the people in an almost tectonic change for the city.

Colston is an omnipresent figure around Bristol, with his name emblazoned on our largest music hall, attached to two schools and featured on many roads. It could be easy to become completely oblivious to his prevalence as it is so commonplace, however, the removal of his statue reflects many years of debate within Bristol around whether or not it is right to uphold such a figure.

Petitions, circulating over the past decade, to remove the statue have come to little success. Plans to attach a plaque to the statue in order to give a more balanced biography of Colston were eventually dropped in 2019 due to disagreements over wording. It is certain that despite his death in 1721, Colston has continued to be a contentious figure in Bristol, and this tension culminated at the Black Lives Matter protest on Sunday.

The main reason for Colston’s presence in Bristol is his position as a famous child of the city, who, using money earned through the slave trade, later developed a reputation for philanthropy in Bristol, as well as in London. There is no doubt, however, that Colston was only able to become such a philanthropist, if we can even call him that, because of his position as board member, and later deputy governor, of the Royal Africa Company, responsible for the transportation and enslavement of approximately 84,000 Africans.

For many people, the deification of such a figure is seen as sheer blindness and disrespect; a kick in the teeth for every black person in the city whose oppression is symbolised in Colston. Compared to his involvement in the slave trade, his charity work is worth very little, and to uphold such a figure is seen to have dangerous implications of support for him, and by extension, his work as a slaver. When speaking to the BBC in 2018, historian Madge Dresser stated that Colston “only gave to charities who shared his views”, it is more difficult, then, to simply brush off his role as a slave owner in the face of his selective charity work in the city.

The statue was erected 174 years after his death, at a point of great anxiety and uncertainty around the strength of the British Empire, something that seems to be greatly mirrored in the UK’s current political climate. This tension is reflected in the criticism that events in Bristol have received, with many claiming that people are aiming to erase history and figures including Priti Patel stating that the removal of the statue was the result of “mob rule” and “utterly disgraceful.”

We can’t simply pretend that slavery didn’t happen or forget the role that figures such as Colston have had in Bristol. It is not erasing history to believe a slave owner deserves no place in the city centre, as long as the public is now educated about the role that the slave trade has, and continues to have had in the evolution of Britain. In the same way that Germany does not have statues of Nazis to remember the holocaust, Britain does not require statues of slavers to educate about its history with slavery.

Following the events of Sunday, a petition has emerged calling for a statue of Paul Stevenson to take Colston’s place. Stevenson, a local activist, was a key leader in the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963, a protest following the discovery that the Bristol Omnibus Company would not hire black workers. After the 60-day boycott, the bus company revoked its colour ban. Stevenson’s continued fight against racial inequality was also crucial in the first Race Relations Act in 1965. Many believe that commemorating figures such as Stevenson would allow Bristol to not only confront its history with racism but move forward in a much more positive way.

Whatever happens now, it is certain that the Sunday’s events have done much to highlight Bristol’s dark past with slavery and the city has gained international attention because of this. The tossing of Colston’s statue powerfully evokes the image of unwanted slaves thrown into the sea; an overthrow of masters; a change for the better. Bristolians did not destroy history on Sunday: they made it.

Esme McGowan

Image: Wikimedia Commons.