You are witnessing the destruction of the history of your people in real time.
A statue of King Leopold II of Belgium was taken down in Antwerp today after it was vandalised by protesters because of his brutal colonial rule in the Congo.
Leopold owned the Belgian Congo as his personal property from 1885 to 1908 and subjected its people to forced labour while he exploited the country’s rubber reserves – leading to millions of deaths in what some regard as a genocide.
The Antwerp statue is the latest symbol of racism to be targeted amid global Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd in the United States.
The mayor’s office said the statue was taken down to be ‘restored’ after it was daubed with paint, but said it was unlikely to return to its public pedestal.
White people cannot have their heroes, because white people are evil and cannot feel pride for anything ever.
You must feel shame, because you were mean to blacks that one time.
You do not have a history, other than being mean to blacks, so you don’t need to remember where you come from and what your people went through.
The only thing that you need to remember is that you were mean to blacks, and that you are evil.
Workmen have torn down the monument to 18th Century slave trader Robert Milligan in the West India Docks he helped to construct in London’s Isle of Dogs – after a day of Black Lives Matter protests have taken place across Britain.
This afternoon, amid growing pressure to act, the Museum of London removed the giant bronze figure of the Scottish merchant who owned 526 slaves at his Jamaican sugar plantation.
A spokesman said: ‘The Museum of London recognises that the monument is part of the ongoing problematic regime of white-washing history, which disregards the pain of those who are still wrestling with the remnants of the crimes Milligan committed against humanity. We are currently working with a consortium to remove this statue’.
Born in Dumfries, Scotland, Milligan moved to Kingston, Jamaica, where he managed his wealthy family’s sugar plantations. He returned to London in 1779 and became instrumental in the construction of the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs.
At the time of his death in 1809, 526 slaves were registered on Milligan’s Jamaican plant called Kellet’s and Mammee Gully.
The museum also tweeted earlier today: ‘The statue presently stands shrouded with placards and is now an object of protest, we believe these protests should remain as long as the statue remains.’
Forcing black people to work is a crime against humanity.