London statues with slavery hyperlinks ‘ought to be taken down’

Statues and avenue names in London with hyperlinks to slavery “ought to be taken down”, the town’s mayor has mentioned.

Sadiq Khan mentioned he had arrange a fee to overview the capital’s landmarks to make sure they replicate its range.

It comes after anti-racism protesters tore down a statue of slave dealer Edward Colston in Bristol on Sunday.

Mr Khan mentioned London had “an uncomfortable fact” with historic hyperlinks to slavery.

The Fee for Variety within the Public Realm will overview the town’s landmarks – together with murals, avenue artwork, avenue names, statues and different memorials – and take into account which legacies ought to be celebrated earlier than making suggestions.

Mr Khan mentioned London was “one of the crucial numerous cities on the planet”, however mentioned latest Black Lives Matter protests had highlighted that the town’s statues, plaques and avenue names largely replicate Victorian Britain.

“It’s an uncomfortable fact that our nation and metropolis owes a big a part of its wealth to its position within the slave commerce,” he mentioned.

“Whereas that is mirrored in our public realm, the contribution of lots of our communities to life in our capital has been wilfully ignored.”

Throughout a Black Lives Matter protest in central London on Sunday, a statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Sq. was sprayed with graffiti.

However Mr Khan mentioned he didn’t take into account statues of the likes of Churchill to be included within the overview.

He mentioned pupils wanted to be educated about well-known figures “warts and all” and that “no person was excellent”, together with the likes of Churchill, Gandhi and Malcolm X.

Petitions have additionally been launched to take away statues of controversial folks round London, resembling one in all Robert Milligan in West India Quays.

Mr Khan advised BBC Radio 4’s Right now programme he didn’t have possession of the statues and the land they’re on.

He additionally mentioned it might be “inappropriate” to single out which statues and avenue names he thinks ought to go.

As a substitute numerous new memorials within the capital have been pledged by Mr Khan, together with ones for Stephen Lawrence, the Windrush technology, a Nationwide Slavery Museum or memorial and a Nationwide Sikh Conflict Memorial.

London statues with hyperlinks to slavery

• Sir Thomas Man made his fortune by way of possession of a really great amount of shares within the South Sea Firm, whose principal objective was to promote slaves to the Spanish Colonies
• Robert Milligan was a famous West Indian service provider, slaveholder and founding father of London’s international commerce hub, West India Docks. There’s a statue to him exterior the Museum of London Docklands
• Apart from founding an academic charity, Sir John Cass – who has a statue exterior London’s Metropolitan College – was a significant determine within the early improvement of the slave commerce and the Atlantic slave economic system, instantly coping with slave brokers within the African forts and within the Caribbean