the most visceral part was it being
thrown into the harbor
that's what really got me port cities
are the places most well-known in the UK
for slavery mother passage is that part
where the enslaved Africans were taken
from the west coast over to the Americas
the Atlantic Ocean the Middle Passage
has claimed so many lives Eric Koston is
almost like being returned to that he's
being sent into a watery grave
the consequence of slavery is racism the
killing of George Floyd was racism and
that I understand would trigger off the
reaction about the statute because
they've been protesting a long time the
statue of Edward Karsten in Bristol is
just one of many dedicated white men who
were involved in the UK's slave trade
cities all over the country have
profited from slavery with the money
building houses schools streets and
hospitals people think it's hyperbole
when we say it's built into every brick
of the nation the like it's not rose
you're working on is a product of
slavery what those men did like Goosen
is not removable this is the statue of
William Gladstone he was the son of a
slave owner and opposed to abolishing
slavery he was also a four-time British
prime minister just this one man has
statues in Manchester London Liverpool
Bolton Edinburgh Glasgow and Hardin a
small village in Wales there are also
numerous schools a library a university
Hall and streets all over the country
bearing that name
statues have so much power right what
does it mean to carve someone's likeness
you know what does it mean to take time
to look at someone's village and all the
power and thought people automatically
see someone literally on a pedestal and
you think one thing we need to somehow
break down that barrier and have people
think of like someone or a statue might
not be good so Jeff Palmer has been
campaigning for a plaque to be put on
this statue of a man called Henry Dundas
in Edinburgh for 13 years
so Wilberforce put up the bill that the
slave trade should be immediately
abolished 1792 and redundant put down an
amendment to say it will be gradually
abolished and that allowed the slave
trade to continue from 1792 to 1807 15
years and I've calculated that in 15
years six hundred and thirty thousand
black people were moved into slavery on
one word gradual the original plan
nothing about saving and I said that
must be on the product is it there are
some statues that are I mean some acts
that are so horrific that they just need
to go and in their place something
completely new in other cases I think
there are times when we can use those
monuments as a tool but I also am very
much aware that we also need to balance
educating with the trauma that can cause
people somehow the onus on educating
people on racism and on the effects of
slavery and colonialism always falls on
those who are the oppressed I will not
support a consistent policy of removing
everything that relates to slavery now I
want improvements for black people in
the country I want improvements in
education I want this history to go in
the curriculum to be there to change
attitudes in some ways plaque is not
enough necessarily need to like break
down our original thinking of these kind
of monuments and start from scratch
which is easier said than done