William Wiburforce, a British politician, philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. Okay, I cheated, but now we all get to know.
I think if the sum of a person's legacy outweighs a single factor, then a memorial to that person is appropriate. No one's erasing or rewriting history. We're making a conscious decision not to celebrate the darkest chapters of it. These are people and topics for study and commemoration, not for tourist attractions or elevated status within a nation they fought to divide. Imagine that Germany undertook a concerted effort to remove dozens of Nazi statues from public places. Would we stand in the way?
I don't agree that allowing 19-year-old students to lead the charge against historical inequity is a sound one, but the intentions are good. At the very least, it's opened a discussion about what we collectively want our legacy to be.
No one was celebrating it. And you don’t or they don’t just get to go around making the rules. It’s just going to upset a lot of people. And if you don’t like that , tough. @Graylight
