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All Things Considered

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Religion & Ethics

Religious affairs programme, tackling thorny issues in a thought-provoking manner

Religious affairs programme, tackling the thornier issues of the day in a thought-provoking manner

All Things Considered: Statues, the church, and the legacy of colonialism

05/07/2020

Statues, the church, and the legacy of colonialism

BBC Radio Wales - All Things Considered, Statues, the church, and the legacy of colonialism

Rosa Hunt and guests discuss protests about black lives, statues and the issues involved.

Rosa Hunt and guests discuss issues arising from black lives protests around statues seen to be linked to a colonial past - with which the church has a complicated relationship.

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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