Authorities remove slave trader statue in London
10 June, 2020
A good statue of Robert Milligan, an 18th century slave trader, was removed from its plinth outside a London museum on Tuesday after global anti-racism protests triggered a debate about how precisely Britain commemorates its imperial recent.
Statues glorifying slave traders and colonialists attended into sharp focus found in recent days, within a good broader movement inspired by the Black Lives Subject protests that were only available in the United States following the death of George Floyd.
“While it’s a good sad truth that much of our city and nation’s wealth was derived from the slave trade, this will not must be celebrated inside our general public spaces,” stated London Mayor Sadiq Khan in a good tweet with a photography of the statue.
Earlier, Khan ordered an assessment of statues and street names around London, found in response to mass protests found in metropolis and elsewhere.
On Sunday, protesters in the English port city of Bristol tore down the statue of a slave trader and threw it in the harbour, while in Oxford on Monday more than 1,000 demonstrators demanded removing a statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes.
The previously obscure statue of Milligan stood before the Museum of London Docklands, on the edge of the glitzy business district of Canary Wharf, which is surrounded by the multi-ethnic, working-class borough of Tower Hamlets.
Milligan, who owned sugar plantations found in Jamaica, was mixed up in structure of London’s West India Docks.
Onlookers cheered and applauded while workers in high-visibility jackets separated the statue from its plinth, then lifted it again off with a crane truck.
The mayor of Tower Hamlets, John Biggs, told Reuters from the scene he felt strongly it had been no more appropriate to keep the statue in place. He said it might be put into storage and discussions would take place about what related to it.
A BYGONE ERA
“Persons assumed he was only a businessman who helped build the docks, however when you dig involved with it you learn that in fact he was a good slave trader,” Biggs said. “I think it is refreshing, I think it is inspiring that persons want to understand and reflect.”
The decision to remove the statue was taken by the owners of the land, a body called the Canal and River Trust. “We recognise the wishes of the neighborhood community concerning the statue of Robert Milligan at London Docklands,” it explained in a statement.
The orderly removal of the statue was as opposed to chaotic scenes in Bristol on Sunday. Law enforcement there didn't stop protesters from toppling a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston in order to avoid inflaming the situation.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the felling of Colston’s statue was a criminal act, even while interior minister Priti Patel called it “utterly disgraceful”.
Mayor Khan said a good commission would review statues, plaques and street names which reflect the rapid expansion of London’s wealth and vitality in the height of Britain’s empire found in the reign of Queen Victoria.
“Our capital’s diversity is our greatest power, yet our statues, road names and open public spaces reflect a bygone period,” he said.
British merchants played a major role on the transatlantic slave trade, the largest deportation in known record.
As much as 17 million African men, girls and children were torn from their homes and shipped to the Americas between the 15th and 19th centuries. Ships came back to Europe with sugar, cotton and tobacco cultivated by slaves on brutal plantations.
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