Statues covered as calls grow to remove ‘racist’ monuments
Afua Hirsch, right, sparked Nelson row STATUES of two Confederate Civil War generals have been covered with tarpaulins in the United States amid growing calls to erase monuments to historic figures accused of racism.
The cover-up of Confederate leaders Robert E Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson follows violent clashes this month between white supremacists and anti-racism protesters.
The city council in Charlottesville, Virginia, wants to remove the statues.
That has been stopped because of a pending lawsuit challenging the city’s plan – so the council ordered them to be covered up.
A growing number of US political leaders have called for the removal of statues honouring the pro-slavery Confederacy.
Civil rights activists claim the statues promote racism, while advocates say they are a reminder of their heritage.
Arguments surrounding historic figures and racism have crossed the globe.
In Britain, a Leftwing commentator has sparked outrage by suggesting that Nelson’s Column should be removed from Trafalgar Square in London because the naval hero was “a white supremacist”. Afua Hirsch said it was time to tear down the landmark because Horatio Nelson defended slavery.
Ms Hirsch wrote in a newspaper article that the “colonial and pro-slavery titans of British history” should stop being “memorialised”.
She said that Nelson was “what you would now call a white supremacist” and that his influence hindered the progress of slavery abolitionists.
She added: “While many around him were denouncing slavery, Nelson was vigorously defending it. Figures like Nelson immediately spring to mind when I hear the latest news of Confederate statues being pulled down in the United States.”
Malicious
Calls to pull down historic monuments in protest at slavery follow attempts to remove a statute of Rhodesia founder Cecil Rhodes in Oxford.
Campaigners in Bristol have secured the rebranding of the Colston Hall concert venue, as Edward Colston was a 17th century slave trader. It will have a new name when it reopens after refurbishment in 2020.
Aboriginals have called for the removal of Sydney’s statue of Britain’s Captain James Cook, The ‘Stonewall’ Jackson statue, right, was covered over yesterday which claims that he “discovered Australia”. Attempts to remove the Confederacy statues in Charlottesville led to violence this month in which Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when a man linked to white supremacists crashed a car into a crowd of antiracism protesters.
An alleged white supremacist involved in the clashes handed himself over to police yesterday.
Christopher Cantwell faces charges of illegal tear gas use and malicious bodily injury.