NELSON COULD BE NEXT
Nelson’s Column among 78 ‘racist’ statues protesters want torn down after Black Lives Matter rallies
NELSON's Column is the latest target of anti-racism campaigners who want it torn down over links to the slave trade.
The Royal Navy hero is included in a hit-list of 78 statues on a "topple the racists" website listing memorials across the UK that activists say "celebrate slavery and racism".
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Classic comedies have also been censored while presenters Ant and Dec yesterday apologised for blacking up on telly.
As the cultural revolution gained pace, episodes of Bo’ Selecta! and Little Britain were removed from streaming services because they feature blackface characters.
BBC comedies Only Fools and Horses and Fawlty Towers are in the spotlight over their use of language and jokes which could be considered racist.
And 1939 Oscar-winning film Gone with the Wind has been removed from US streaming service HBO Max amid claims of racism.
The calls come after a statue of Edward Colston was toppled and thrown into the River Avon by Black Lives Matters (BLM) protesters in Brisol.
And a statue of slave owner Robert Milligan was removed from London's Docklands on Tuesday evening.
Nelson’s column was erected in 1840 in honour of Horatio Nelson, one of the most famous naval officers in history.
Towering 170ft high, it's topped with a statue of Lord Nelson, in memorial to the British Navy's inspirational leader.
The Battle of Trafalgar, in which he bravely led his British fleet to victory against a combined French and Spanish fleet in 1805, was also the hero's last.
However, BLM wants the column removed as Nelson was fiercely opposed to the abolition of the slave trade.
He supported prominent slavers, and tried to prevent the abolitionist William Wilberforce - who he dubbed 'damnable' - from ending Britain's involvement in the slave trade.
On the Topple the Racists website, a BLM spokesperson said while "history is complicated" it was "important to shine a light on the continued adoration of colonial icons and symbols".
Among its targets are memorials to Sir Robert Peel - seen as the father of modern policing after he founded the Met in London in the 19th century, in Birmingham, Tamworth, Bradford and Leeds.
The group is also offended by a statue of Thomas Guy outside the London hospital he founded and is named after him, because he made his fortune from a company that sold slaves.
Topple the Racists' website is the brainchild of the Stop Trump Coalition which protested against the US president's controversial visit to the UK.
Its push comes as a government minister has said there should be no statues of slave traders in modern Britain in response to protesters' "hit list".
In a highly significant intervention, business minister Nadhim Zahawi said statues should be removed after a memorial of slaver Edward Colston was dragged down in protests in Bristol.
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Mr Zahawi told Sky News: “My opinion is any slave trader should not have a statue.
"But I wouldn't be breaking the law to take statues down, it should be done through our democratic process.
"This country is a democracy, a proud democracy and it should be up to local people to decide what they want to do with that statue and any other statue."
"If the majority of people decide that we want the statues down, then they should be taken down."
Mr Zahawi suggested statues of slavers should be "put in a museum so we can learn more about the men and women who behaved in all sorts of ways, historically, that is not appropriate in the 21st century."
“If we want to have a debate about statues, let’s have that debate and let’s elect politicians who stand on a platform saying we’ll take the statues down.”
The tearing down of Colston's statue sparked a furious debate over which people get honoured with memorials in Britain, and a statue in London of 18th century slave trader Robert Milligan was taken down yesterday.
The vice-chancellor of Oxford University has suggested Nelson Mandela would have firmly opposed attempts to "hide history".
Prof Louise Richardson said the late South African president would have stood against the Rhodes Must Fall campaign.
Tearing down the statue would amount to a "refusal to acknowledge our past", she said.
She added: "Hiding our history is not the route to enlightenment."
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The Topple the Racists 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.
The news comes after London Mayor Sadiq Khan demanded statues and plaques be removed and street names in London changed if they commemorate slave owners.
Mr Khan told Sky News yesterday: "We've got to realise that our public realm statues, squares, street names don't accurately reflect our values, or London, in 2020."
But he added: "I don't condone at all any attacks on our police, any disorder or criminal damages."
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Meanwhile, it has been announced 130 Labour councils across England and Wales will begin reviewing monuments and statues in their towns and cities.
It means dozens more monuments could be removed.
A statement posted on Twitter said: "LGA Labour have consulted with all Labour council leaders, and there is overwhelming agreement from all Labour councils that they will listen to and work with their local communities to review the appropriateness of local monuments and statues on public land and council property."
'APPROPRIATE MONUMENTS'
And in Scotland, Adam McVey, leader of Edinburgh city council, told BBC Radio Scotland he would feel “absolutely no sense of loss” if the statue of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville responsible for delaying the abolition of the slave trade by 15 years, was removed from the 150ft Melville Monument.
Yesterday a statue of Robert Milligan - thought to have owned some 500 slaves - was removed from the West India Quay in east London following a petition from a Labour MP.
Milligan was the driving force behind the building of the West India Docks in London.
He also traded slaves in Jamaica.
Reports say the statue's removal was met with cheers and applause from onlookers.
Milligan's statue had stood outside the Museum of the Docklands near the West India Quay he helped create near Canary Wharf.
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan added the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm would work to introduce statues and memorials which "better reflect London" including the inclusion of more black, disabled and LGBTQ+ people.
Some of statues that could be part of a cull are slave traders and owners William Beckford, John Cass and Thomas Guy.
Former Lord Mayor of London William Beckford, who has a statue inside London's Guildhall, is believed to have owned around 3,000 slaves in plantations in Jamaica.
Sir John Cass was a philanthropist and a slaver, who was a member of the Royal African Company's Court of Assistance for three years in the 1700s.
The foundation set up in memory of him provides support to schools and universities in London - including the Cass Business school.
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Thomas Guy, who one King's College London's campuses is named after, made his fortune off of investing in the slave trade.
Yesterday, people were spotted trying to fish the statue of Colston out of the Bristol harbour as conflict emerged over how the protesters have behaved and whether statues should be removed..
Senior police chief Andy Bennet, who led the Avon and Somerset police operation in Bristol during the protests, said having officers guard the statue would have led to further violence and vandalism in the city.
He said Bristol should be "proud" of the way the city handled the protests.
He told the Bristol Post: “No one got hurt and we had no arrests in the whole protest. That is 10,000 passionate people — Bristol should be proud of itself.”
Rhodes was a 19th century mining magnate and imperialist who helped Victorian Britain colonise much of Southern Africa. A scholarship in his name at Oxford was set up to help non-Brits study there. Beneficiaries include Bill Clinton and three former Australian PMs.
The foundation set up in memory of him provides support to schools and universities in London - including the Cass Business school.
Mr Khan said the recommendations from the new commission would probably be that some statues would have to be pulled down.
He clarified: "I suspect the commission may come back and say it's not appropriate to be memorialising, to be celebrating these people.
"It's a discussion we should have and it's really important to bring in diverse voices, we can imagine - there are statues of people who were involved in the Royal African Company in London.
"There are statues of plantation owners and their contribution is solely the money they made through plantations."
But Mr Khan said not all statues would be included in the review - such as that of famed former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, whose memorial was defaced by protester who wrote he "was a racist" over the weekend.
The London Mayor said people needed to learn about famous figures, such as Churchill, Gandhi and Malcolm X, "warts and all" and that "nobody was perfect."
The Rhodes Must Fall Oxford campaign group has called for the image of the mining magnate and empire builder to be removed from Oriel College, arguing the university has "failed to address its institutional racism".
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His comments come after Boris Johnson slammed protesters for taking the law into their own hands and pulling down the statue of Costol in Bristol over the weekend.
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The PM said: "(We do not) desecrate public monuments, we have a democracy in this country.
"If you want to change the urban landscape, you can stand for election or vote for someone who will."
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Queen Victoria statue in Leeds spray painted with anti-slavery and Black Lives Matter messages
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