I am not trying to be controversial, but...........

Blatantly racist posts throughout this thread. Wonder what would happen if it was made public? Can you imagine the headlines?

,???

ladymuck- what a ridiculous and indeed offensive comment you make in asking why slaves didn't return to African when freed because they kept their culture alive. It's clearly a waste of time even attempting to outline why that is so very wrong.

tickingbird - Netflix hasn't banned GWTW, its stopped listing it currently because the way in which the black characters are portrayed perpetuates negative stereotypes of black people. I've no doubt that film will be reinstated, possibly with some references to the stereotypes and the fact that the black actor who won an Oscar, the first Oscar any black actor won, wasn't allowed to sit with the rest of the cast at the ceremony. She sat separately because she was black. I read she said she'd rather play a maid in a film and be paid decently, and work as a maid for little reward.

As all monuments in Egypt were built by slaves should we be looking to pull them down? How many other edifices around the world need looking at with revisionist eyes?

Gumteenth Slavery is wrong - it continues to this day you know, especially in Africa. Banning GWTW is, quite frankly, virtue signalling by Netflix. Utter nonsense

Could you try in my opinion occasionally ^tickingbird the above is not a fact but just the way you see the depiction of slavery. In mine racism matters and not just in films.

As a grandma I am so keen to make sure that all my grandchildren grow up As resilient human beings , accepting everyone As equal and taking action to make sure all their peers have equal opportunities and choices . I have spent my whole career fighting for the rights of children who have additional needs and I still , even though retired , run parenting courses for parents of children and young people in the autism spectrum. It’s hard to find resources to support this but I can highly recommend
@diversifytheirworld On Instagram as there are excellent resources listed . I have already bought some excellent books and puzzles and started using My play people in a very different way ! Take a look fellow grandmas ✅

Griselda I was referring to those of us alive today who have visited the art galleries, or the libraries, or attended the schools or been treated in the hospitals that they endowed. Surely that is a benefit?

I think it has just gone too far now,i heard on the news that some street names were to be changed,
How far CAN it go,
Keep the statues where they are,and as a pp said put a plaque explaining,
This is still our country, and sad as it is what happened in the past it has gone and we can learn from it,but all this vandalism is just wrong
And as for getting rid of "Gone with the wind" film, what next, little Britain has gone from Netflix,
Love thy neighbour years ago was ditched long ago, and the dialogue in that was between Alf Garnett and the black man, they just took the mickey out of each other,
Are all the older films going to be searched through and got rid of

I have had an email tonight asking me to sign in defence of those who pulled that statue down and rolled it into the river
I am NOT signing it

Toadinthehole i totally agree with you, it does seem no lives matter now,

Was being press ganged a form of slavery?

We had a discussion about this a few months ago in relation to child workers and factory workers in Victorian times. I think that the conclusion was that it didn't count as slavery because the children and adults weren't bought and sold as commodities; they were, in theory, free.

Press ganged sailors were paid a wage (and got a share of prize money) ; they were, in theory, 'free' too.

Dinahmo - that's true, but we can all go to those galleries etc now.

How far CAN it go,

Perhaps until the country reflects all its history and the history of all its citizens.

Regarding slavery, many empires and civilisations have been built by slaves of all skin hues, Egyptian and Roman spring to mind. Are we to remove statues of Romans, destroy the pyramids? And what about the Africans who captured and sold fellow countrymen into slavery (Igbo, for instance?) it goes further than skin colour and involves power, greed and inhumanity to each other as human beings.

True philanthropy is humbling, it's having considerably more of something to offer others less fortunate- The practice of using peoples names and companies negates the spirit of philanthropy because it isn't philanthropy, it's promotion-

GGumteenth It can be done. It's what Germany was forced to do after WW2 and was reflected in literature and other arts for decades. Nazi paraphernalia was banned and the attitude could be seen in West Germany's foreign policy. Merkel often refers to the country's history and it undoubtedly influenced her decision to allow so many refugees to enter the country. It was (and still is) collective guilt.

So what are you suggesting Whingingmom?

I'm all for respecting every other human being on the planet as an equal. Where do you suggest we should start?

Maybe this is just the start ...

PS. Apparently the Romans used to change the heads on their statues, as people fell out of favour.

What’s the point of statues anyway? Most of them are of people no one has heard of. Particularly all those 19th century generals. Colson should never have been there, a man who
treated human beings worse than his horses.

I think there are some good statues, but not the ones of individual people.

Even in the late nineteenth century, when the Colson statue was commissioned, nobody even knew what he looked like. The statue was of an idealised person, representing some kind of view of him as a philanthropist. I guess the idea was to encourage the "proles" to be grateful to their lords and masters.

How about Eric Morecambe? Or John Betjamen? I think they are fun.

Many local people have no idea who Colston was or what he did...... but we do now.

The council are removing the statue of Baden Powell from Poole Harbour Side this morning.

Could you try in my opinion occasionally ^tickingbird the above is not a fact but just the way you see the depiction of slavery. In mine racism matters and not just in films

I’ll post how I see fit. Please don’t attempt to deflect from my point. If thousands of people cancelled their Netflix subscription they’d soon put GWTW back on. They’re playing to an audience. They could have removed it quietly a long time ago and I doubt anyone would have noticed.

growstuff I love that idea!

On the abolition of slavery the owners were paid about £1.8 billion in today's money for compensation. How much of that went to our aristocracy to enable them to build their stately homes.