Our chance to have a say over future of Colston statue and plinth

SO the damaged and defaced statue of Edward Colston goes on display in the M Shed in some sort of ghoulish exhibition.

I don’t think I will be booking to visit this latest embarrassment to Bristol, though I did look at the version online.

It was disappointing to find an error and misleading statements in the recent timeline for the statue – I have reported these, because we don’t want to be misled about our history do we?

I suppose we should be grateful that this is a temporary exhibition accompanied by a survey to find out what Bristol residents’ views are on the future of the statue. The survey is also available online via the museum’s exhibition website, though don’t expect a simple list of options such as ‘put it back on its plinth and add the already cast second plaque summarising his philanthropy and involvement with slavery.’

There is a question about our feelings about the statue being pulled down, but not one about our feelings concerning the topplers and their risking of lives at the height of the pandemic by coming together as a large mob totally ignoring social distancing rules. However, I did add my comments about this too.

We might also question the fairness of the survey after a year of ‘Edward Colston the slave trader’ indoctrination. In brief, he was a successful merchant, trading in many commodities, and probably Bristol’s greatest benefactor, giving money which has helped fund education and social care to this day. We don’t know what proportion of this wealth came from his involvement with slavery, though it was significant.

The exhibition provides some extra information about Colston, but misses out important context essential to understanding his actions which seem so abhorrent to us now, such as how widespread slavery was in his time in Africa; how well established the Transatlantic Slave Trade already was and which other countries were involved; which African kingdoms/ empires Colston’s company traded with to obtain the enslaved Africans; how widely condoned was the trade amongst royalty, churchmen, intellectuals and the educated classes, etc.

Colston’s and Bristol’s involvement with slavery needs to be acknowledged openly on our streets as well as in our museums, but this needs to be set honestly in the context of its times.

Bristol should also do more to celebrate its positive role in challenging slavery, a fascinating story including a pub meeting, a preacher, female poets and education, sugar boycotts and pamphlets.

Julian Hill Knowle