George Floyd protests: Who was Edward Colston and why was his statue thrown into a river?
Nearly two weeks after the death of 46-year-old African-American, George Floyd at the hands of former Minneapolis police officers, protests in response to both Floyd's death as well as to police violence against black people have spread across the United States and internationally. In the United Kindom in the southwestern city of Bristol, protesters toppled and threw the statue of the slave trader, Edward Colston into the Bristol Harbour.
Edward Colston (1636-1721) was a member of parliament and was born in Bristol. His wealth was largely acquired through the trade and exploitation of slaves. Colston was on the board of the Royal African Company, a shipping company that transported over 100,000 slaves from West Africa to the Americas between 1672 and 1689. Unhygienic and cramped conditions meant many of those enslaved died while being shipped. More than 20,000 slaves died during the crossings, with their bodies thrown overboard into the Atlantic Ocean.
Other members of the Colston family also had connections with the company - his brother Thomas supplied beads that were used to buy slaves and his father William owned shares. Colston's amassed wealth from the slave trade was used to provide financial support to hospitals, schools and other institutions through England, especially in his home city of Bristol, including the city’s churches. It was also used to found almshouses, Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School and a religious school for boys.
The statue honoring Colston was erected in 1895 and on March 4, 1977, it was designated as a Grade II listed structure to commemorate him as Bristol's most famous philanthropist. It was only in the 1990s that controversy surrounding Colston's past came up, with someone scrawling "SLAVE TRADER" on the statue's base in 1998. Through the 2000s, calls were made for the statue to be taken down, with nearly half of Bristol's residents on board.
During the June 7 protests in Bristol, crowds cheered as the statue was toppled and dragged to Pero's Bridge (named after an enslaved Bristol resident) and dumped it into the water. Many other institutions in Bristol are named after Colston, including, Colston's School, Colston Girls' School, Colston Tower, Colston's Almshouses and more.
Colston's Primary School in 2018 opted to rebrand to Cotham Gardens Primary School after consultation with parents and pupils. In 2019, St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School renamed Colston House as Johnson House, after the African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson.
Many cheered the event on social media. One user tweeted, "The moment a statue of slave trader Edward Colston toppled into Bristol’s harbor. ‘It’s what he deserves. I’ve been waiting all my life for this moment’ someone told me in the moments after."
Another shared, "Considering that slave traders like Edward Colston used to throw sickly African slaves overboard, and then claim on the insurance, I would say this is a fitting end." A user opined, "Love the fact it was knocked into the water under Pero’s Bridge - Named after an African slave brought to Bristol. If that’s not symbolic I don’t know what is."
Authorities who condemned the toppling of the statue have been called out as well. Home Secretary Priti Patel criticized the actions of protesters, telling the BBC the statue's removal was "utterly disgraceful."
A user shared, "Bloody hypocrites celebrated the destruction of Saddam Hussein & Stalin statues but now condemn the destruction of Edward Colston who profited over slavery & dehumanization of Black people. You'll fail to discredit the cause of #BlackLivesMattters."
Another shared, "You want to keep racist statues for "educational purposes"? That Edward Colston statue stood in Bristol for 120 years and you dumb f**ks didn't learn a thing about slavery or racism! You want to be educated? Listen to the people who threw that slave-owning scumbag in the sea."