[ad_1]
The City of London Corporation mentioned Tuesday that residents, staff and the overall public can have three months to provide their opinion on “which landmarks they think are a problem and what action they would like to see taken.”
“Like many areas of the country, the City of London has a number of statues and other landmarks with links to the slave trade and historic racism,” Caroline Addy, co-chair of the City of London Corporation’s Tackling Racism Taskforce, mentioned in an announcement. “It’s important that we acknowledge and address this legacy with openness and honesty, and carefully consider what should be done.”
The Corporation runs the standard financial district in London, which is often known as the Square Mile. The space incorporates the Bank of England, Lloyd’s of London insurance coverage market and the places of work of many of the world’s largest banks and financial establishments.
In an announcement, the City of London mentioned it was asking the public to touch upon statues, buildings and avenue names and different landmarks.
Activists have already referred to as for a statue of William Beckford, a slave proprietor who served in parliament and twice as Lord Mayor of London, to be faraway from the Guildhall, one of London’s oldest buildings and residential to the City of London Corporation. It dates again 800 years and hosts conferences and company occasions in its Gothic halls.
The UK authorities rejected a petition searching for the statue’s elimination earlier this yr, saying it was a matter for the native authorities.
Spokespeople for the City of London didn’t instantly reply on Tuesday when requested for an inventory of different monuments and statues which have hyperlinks to slavery or racism. Britain enslaved 3.1 million Africans between 1640 and 1807, transporting them to colonies all over the world, in accordance to Historic England, a public physique.
In June, a statue of the slave dealer Robert Milligan was faraway from outdoors the Museum of London Docklands close to Canary Wharf, which can also be dwelling to many financial corporations. Mulligan owned two sugar plantations and 526 slaves in Jamaica on the time of his dying in 1809. The similar month, UK protesters tore down a statue of slave dealer Edward Colston in Bristol and dumped it into a close-by river.
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink