British Prime Minister Boris Johnson considered Thursday that it should not try to “rewrite” history. This, after the acquittal the day before of four people charged with “criminal damages” for uprooting the statue of a slave trader in Bristol.
Slave trader statue
On June 7, 2020, on the sidelines of a demonstration by the Black Lives Matter movement, three men and a woman tore down and threw the controversial statue of Edward Colston. It is about a man who in the 17th century used the fortune amassed from the slave trade to finance the development of that city in southwestern England.
The acquittal on Wednesday of the four defendants sparked a heated debate in the UK.
Asked by reporters during an official visit, Johnson declined to comment on the court decision.
“Historical legacy for better or for worse”
“But I think we have a complex historical legacy around us, reflecting our history in all its diversity, for better or for worse. And we cannot try to change our history, censor it or rewrite it in hindsight, “he said.
“If people decide to democratically remove a statue or something else, that’s fine. But I think that in general we must preserve our cultural, artistic and historical heritage, “he added.
Less diplomatic, his former Justice Minister Robert Buckland called the verdict perverse.
“Our courts are not places for politics but for law enforcement,” he told the BBC; while the conservative government seeks to increase sanctions for vandalism of historical monuments, awakening accusations of “culture war” against those who denounce social inequality and in particular racism.
But prominent historian David Olusoga, who testified during the Bristol trial, celebrated the sentence.
“That statue, which has stood there for 125 years, was validating the career of a mass murderer,” he told the ITV channel.