Connecting Past and Present: How to Understand the Idea of Erasing History and How It Applies to the
Daniel Abrahams The ongoing movement against police violence and state racism has returned the question of historical monuments to public debate. On June 7th activists in Bristol removed, then dumped in the river, a statue of Edward Colston. Colston had made his money through the 17th-Century slave trade, and through his wealth had left his name or likeness throughout Bristol. Bristol-based activism, especially the Countering Colston movement, had long petitioned for the rena