Slavery: Rewriting history is waste of time – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: David Collins, Scissett.
Winston Churchill's statue in Parliament Square has been boarded up following recent protests.Winston Churchill's statue in Parliament Square has been boarded up following recent protests.
Winston Churchill's statue in Parliament Square has been boarded up following recent protests.

AS we seem to have a number of empty plinths, perhaps these could be used to honour the Royal Naval personnel who died on anti-slavery duty between 1808 and 1867 off the African coast and beyond.

They captured over 1,600 slave ships and released over 150,000 slaves at a high cost – at least 55 in each 1,000 died mainly from tropical diseases. Let us not forget for almost 60 years the UK alone stood against slavery despite very little support from European, American, African and Middle Eastern countries. The UK wasn’t blameless, in any sense, but the people put pressure on the establishment to mend their ways, for once successfully. Trying to alter history to meet modern standards (whatever they are) is a waste of time, even more so than history trying to change current behaviour.

From: Cecil Crinnion, Sycamore Close, Slingsby, York.

The statue of Bristol slave trader Edward Colston was recently thrown into the River Avon.The statue of Bristol slave trader Edward Colston was recently thrown into the River Avon.
The statue of Bristol slave trader Edward Colston was recently thrown into the River Avon.
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SHOULD the British 
Government press the 
Italian government for an apology for the appalling way that the Romans treated the British people thousands of years ago, and to remove the ancient statues of leaders who created a colonial empire?

Two hundred or two thousand years, the past is the past, time I think to move on.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor

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