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Home > All Things Considered > Statues, the church, and the legacy of colonialism


	Podcast:		All Things Considered
	Episode:		Statues, the church, and the legacy of colonialism
	Category:		Music
	Duration:		00:27:41
	Publish Date:		2020-07-05 03:31:00
	Description:		The shocking killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis this May sparked off a global wave of support for movements celebrating black lives and seeking to address racial injustice. It has led to soul-searching in this country too, questioning how far our own society is tainted by a legacy of racism. This has been expressed very visibly through protests targeting and sometimes toppling statues of and monuments to figures seen to be associated with the UK’s colonial history – a history with which the church itself has a complicated relationship. But removing or defacing public art is a significant symbolic step which can be highly controversial, and assessing our relationship with the past and the role churches have played is not a straightforward task. Joining Rosa to discuss the issues are: Patrick Thomas, Church in Wales vicar in Carmarthen, where there’s a current debate about how to respond to a monument to Sir Thomas Picton; Chine McDonald, a black London-based writer and broadcaster who speaks about faith, race and gender; Lester Freckleton, pastor of Vine Community Church and chair of a black church leaders group in Cardiff as well as a learning and development consultant dealing with issues around diversity and equality; and Wanda Zyborska, artist from Bangor who has been making an annual sculptural protest about a statue of Sir Henry Morton Stanley since it was erected in 2011.
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