[imagesource: Ben Birchall/ FA WIRE/AP]

Something that has really got the Karens going on Facebook of late is the toppling of statues during the #BlackLivesMatter protests in the US and around the world.

In Britain, videos of protesters pulling down the Edward Colston statue in Bristol and dumping it in the harbour have been widely shared, along with the comments like “why couldn’t they have put it in a museum?” from people who probably didn’t even know who Colston was until he was unseated from his plinth.

If you’re similarly not in the know, here’s some background on Edward Colston.

He was born into a reasonably wealthy family, but made his own fortune in the 1600s by selling slaves, cloth, wine, and sugar. Most of his wealth came directly from the slave trade and in 1680, he became an official of the Royal African Company, which at the time held the monopoly in Britain on slave trading.

So why did he have a statue? He donated some cash to churches and hospitals, and also founded two almshouses and a school. More specifically, he donated money that he made selling human beings. The latter should cancel the former out.

As for why it couldn’t have been “put in a museum”, Karen, the short answer is that activists have tried to do just that for years.

In October of 2018, Thangam Debbonaire, the Labour MP for Bristol West, said the city “should not be honouring people who benefited from slavery”, and called for the statue to be removed.

If her wishes had been listened to (and the wishes of a number of others who have called for the same over the years), then the statue would have been safely stored away in a museum or basement somewhere as a reminder of Britain’s dark history of colonialism and exploitation.

Instead, it remained, and now it’s in the river.

Behold:

Superb.

People really shouldn’t have to walk past a statue each day, wondering if that person sold their ancestors as slaves.

Now that there’s a hole where the statue used to be, street artist Banksy has put forth his suggestion for a replacement.

Per Sky News:

Revealing a new sketch on his Instagram account, the secretive graffiti artist shared his thoughts on what should happen to the plinth…

His black and white drawing shows four protesters in the middle of pulling down the bronze statue of the slave trader, which is close to toppling backwards.

He also took a passive-aggressive stab at the Karens:

“Here’s an idea that caters for both those who miss the Colston statue and those who don’t.

Nicely done.

I like the idea of the Colston statue toppling in suspended animation for the rest of time.

Let this be a warning to governments worldwide – if your people call for an offensive statue that glorifies human rights violations to be removed, do it.

If you leave it up, don’t be surprised when the people remove it themselves.

[source:skynews]