Day 78 – The aftermath

I went for a walk around the New Town bagging Turf zones, when I came across the statue of Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, which is on Melville Street in the West End. His dad was a ‘character’ judging by his Wikipedia page. He seems a typical Tory with his snout in the trough and an obstructer of the abolition of the slave trade to boot. Robert Dundas, whose statue this is, seemed a better person, albeit one whose station in life owed much to his father and his money.

Last weekend the statue was ‘decorated’ as part of the Black Lives Matter protests after the scandalous death of George Floyd. Whilst not condoning the graffiti, I’m not in favour of its removal as it is just part of the story of our racist past and participation in slavery, unless a large plaque explaining the background is added to this and other monuments. We can learn from this, but many will not, as the reaction from people such as Farage show.

Best large.