‘This cannot continue’: London mayor backs removal of statues that depict slave traders

“Our capital’s diversity is our greatest strength, yet our statues, road names and public spaces reflect a bygone era. It is an uncomfortable truth that our nation and city owes a large part of its wealth to its role in the slave trade and while this is reflected in our public realm, the contribution of many of our communities to life in our capital has been willfully ignored,” Khan said in a statement.

“This cannot continue. We must ensure that we celebrate the achievements and diversity of all in our city, and that we commemorate those who have made London what it is — that includes questioning which legacies are being celebrated,” he added.

Khan said he would be creating a Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm to allow people from minority backgrounds to review statues and road names. Gaylene Gould, a member of the mayor’s cultural leadership board, commended the decision, calling the commission a “step in the right direction.”

“Statues are symbolic reference points of our nation,” she said. “Set in stone, they become immovable objects and problematic because they cannot be contested. In this new imaginative period we have moved into, it’s time to create a new imaginative model for publicly honouring London’s people and it’s many, many cultures.”

Black Lives Matter protesters in London have vandalized and destroyed many statues recently, including tearing down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol and tossing it into the river. Statues of other figures, including Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln, were also vandalized.

Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, said it was “completely wrong” for the protesters to rip down the statue and toss it in the river. Starmer added, “That statue should have been brought down properly, with consent, and put, I would say, in a museum.”

Khan said it was important that the city addressed each statue in the proper way.

“The Black Lives Matter protests have rightly brought this to the public’s attention, but it’s important that we take the right steps to work together to bring change and ensure that we can all be proud of our public landscape,” he said.

London officials have named at least one statue that will be removed following Khan’s statement. The Canal and River Trust announced on Tuesday that it would be removing the statue of slave trader Robert Milligan “as soon as possible.”