We cannot change history
From: Canon Michael Storey, Healey Wood Road, Brighouse.
THE destruction of the statue of Edward Colston and the graffiti on the statue of Winston Churchill both raise a very serious question.
Who has the authority in Britain to decide on the removal and/or defacing of statues/ memorials of people, seen as important in the past? Surely not rioting crowds?
Re-writing history, by changing names of buildings and streets and removing memorials and statues, might reflect current attitudes, but history is made up of both the good and the bad. Change will only come about when people’s current thinking changes.
Some of the last words of the retiring Archbishop of York should be adopted by all of us: “Be the change you want to see. There is only one race – the human race.” We can’t change history but we can change now – if we all try!
From: Barry Foster, High Stakesby, Whitby.
I RECENTLY saw a placard saying British History Matters. It certainly does.
Much of history against white people was not all that enhancing. People were shipped off to Australia to be treated as slaves. Young children, and I mean young, worked down the mines or climbed up chimneys. One could go on.
These things and others are not to be forgotten; they are to be remembered with thanks and gratitude.
We have welcomed immigrants from almost every country in the world. They have been treated fairly and often at the expense of those who were born and bred here.
It is now time to treat us all with the respect we deserve. Those who want to deface our history should sit down and learn it like we all have done.
The wanton destruction has to stop to protect us all. The police should be supported in doing the difficult job they have. As a country, we should – without exception – be getting behind the Government, doing our level best to get rid of this dreadful virus.