By Twenty-eight Councils across the United Kingdom are undertaking reviews of statues in their area.
Proposed action includes taking statues down, adding plaques to put the statues in historical context and opening conversations with residents to understand concerns.
Full reviews are in place for all statues located in London, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and Cardiff.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Jhan explains, “It is an uncomfortable truth that our nation and city owes a large part of its wealth to its role in the slave trade.”
“Whilst this is reflected in our public realm, the contribution of many of our communities to life in our capital has been willfully ignored.”
In Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, a statue of Robert Peel is being questioned. Peel’s father, also named Robert Peel, circulated a pro-slavery petition in 1806.
Councillor Luthfur Rahman noted, “The weight of emotion around the symbolism attached to public statues has been palpable this week – and not without good reason.”
“However, it is also true to say that most of us do not know the people represented in the city’s statues, nor the history as to why they were chosen.”
Along with statues in public parks and community areas, statues in universities and colleges have also been called into question.
Rhodes Must Fall (#RhodesMustFall) is a protest movement which began on 9 March 2015, originally directed against a statue at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
The group has now taken aim at the Cecil Rhodes statue located at Oriel College in Oxford.
However, it’s not always evident who is responsible for statues. In Kent, the statue of the former British general Lord Kitchener is thought to be on land owned by the army.
This assertion is under question. An MOD spokesman has said, “The Government supports the settling of this issue democratically.”
“Existing planning processes are in place for the public to propose and crowdfund for new statues, should they wish to do so.”
Anti-racism and #BlackLivesMatter campaigners have created an extensive list of statues that they would like taken down across the UK.
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