[hibeejim21]

It truly amazes me how people can get themselves worked up about a statue of some xxxx monster being hauled down, or some hoodies being looted from H and M but go straight to the next page when it comes to black people being murdered by police or discriminated against.

Its 2020 for gods sake.

I totally agree with your sentiments on this, but a line has to be drawn somewhere and it's just before violence kicks in. I can't think that anyone believes that racism will diminish when violence is used. In fact violence will only lead to even more entrenched extreme positions. Hauling down a statue does no good in the long run - it's a good photo opportunity, no more.

Much of Bristol's prosperity over the centuries was based on the slave trade, as were many British cities' wealth because of the cotton trade, a prime user of slaves. Perhaps we should be boycotting the clothing industry to make a stand against racism. British Imperialism was responsible for the parliament/transport/education systems in many emerging democracies in what used to be called "The Third World". Perhaps we should be tearing up railway lines in these countries as a protest againt British Imperialism.

Forced arranged marriages, female genital mutilation, modern slavery are all practiced in BAME communities - all conveniently ignored in the current BLM frenzy. The last country to officially abolish slavery was an African country - within the last 50 or 60 years. So what, let's all blame the UK for it's part.

Finally, the USA had a black President for 8 years and it made absolutely no difference to racist attitudes in the US. It'll take decades of hard work and tolerance to reduce racism, never mind erase it.

Black Lives DO Matter, as do all others.

And if those uppity blacks just hadn’t looted all those shops or burnt all those cars - all of those police officers would probably have been charged and already in prison by now, right? Sure.

Thats the heart of the problem right there.

The other issues you seem to be conflating with racism are more to do with islam than anything else. Im not sure thats relevant to this. Hauling down a statue might just be photo opp, but its certainly got more people talking about the subject and learning about our history with slavery up and down the UK than ever before. A lot more folk will know about Colston now than before. Thats a real step in the right direction.