Put wrongdoers into context of their time
I AGREE that Edward Colston should not be on a pedestal, and neither should many other wellknown historical figures, such as Cecil Rhodes, Thomas Picton, ‘Clive of India’, Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake and Henry Morgan, to name but a few who committed terrible crimes against people in various parts of the world.
They took part in atrocities in the name of, or were overtly or covertly supported (and often honoured) by, a monarch or a political leader in power at the time.
In view of this we need to examine the morality of those monarchs and leaders as well and question whether they deserve to remain on their pedestals.
Although monuments may be removed, we should guard against erasure from history of the people they commemorate, people who must not be forgotten for the despicable things they did; nor should we forget the organisations and individuals they represented.
But at the same time we should appreciate that those people, and the events in which they were involved, were recorded in the context of values prevalent at the time when they were written and so to judge them according to the values of the present day needs a degree of circumspection.
However, historical accounts are more often than not written by the victors, and therefore a re-evaluation of the veracity of those records by descendants of the defeated is certainly a valid undertaking.
Furthermore, an awareness of wrongdoings of past generations can help us to atone for them and learn how to avoid them happening again in the future.
We could re-evaluate, raise people’s awareness of, and correct a few misconceptions in relation to a number of historical records that have to varying degrees been neglected, ignored or interpreted with a certain political or cultural bias by some historians, educationalists and sections of the media, for example: the Peasants’ Revolt, Peterloo Massacre, Welsh Not, Tolpuddle Martyrs, Chartist movement, Merthyr Rising, Irish potato famine, Highland clearances, Blue Books, Tonypandy Riots, and the Jarrow March, to name but a few.
This is not to detract from or undervalue the impact of recent events in Minneapolis, Bristol or anywhere else, but it is to put these events in the context of what has happened throughout history.
Because what will unite us all in these turbulent times and help us to understand the reasons for, and overcome, injustices wherever they occur is a realisation, acknowledgement, acceptance and ongoing recollection that subjugation, persecution, exploitation, humiliation and a multitude of other crimes against
humanity are not restricted to the colour of our skin.
Jon Gruffydd Crughywel, Powys