Sadiq Khan forms diversity commission to review London landmarks

The move comes after protesters tore down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol over the weekend amid Black Lives Matter protests.
Over the weekend graffiti was scrawled on the Sir Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square with concerns raised
Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned legal repercussions must follow, and called for people to "work peacefully, lawfully, to defeat racism".
Mayor Sadiq Khan's office said London is "one of the most diverse cities in the world", but recent anti-racism demonstrations have highlighted that the city's statues, plaques and street names largely reflect Victorian Britain.
Statues, murals, street art and street names will all be reviewed by the new Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm who will also consider what should be celebrated before making recommendations.

The Mayor of London said: "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 wilfully ignored.
"This cannot continue."


Mr Khan said 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 that recent protests had brought the matter to public attention, but said it was "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."


The commission - which will be co-chaired by Debbie Weekes-Bernard, the deputy mayor for social integration, social mobility and community engagement, and deputy mayor for culture and creative industries Justine Simons - will include historians as well as arts, council and community leaders.
It comes ahead of planned anti-racism demonstrations in London as George Floyd is laid to rest in the US, after a killing which Boris Johnson said had awakened an "incontrovertible, undeniable feeling of injustice" worldwide.
Mr Floyd, who died after a police officer in Minneapolis restrained him by holding a knee on his neck, will be buried in his home town of Houston in Texas on Tuesday.
Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted an image of the Daily Mail front page, showing the toppling of the Colston statue in Bristol and graffiti on the Churchill monument in Parliament Square.
She wrote: "These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery. Justice will follow."

They are going to have a nasty surprise when they realise that every single person from before around 60 years ago, fails to meet their moral standards...

Clearly doing something good isn't enough to outweigh sometihng bad, and almost everyone from the early part of the 20th century backwards was a racist by todays standards..

It’s almost like a purge lol

Who draws the lines of what’s offensive and what’s not? A select few from this Diversity Commission?

Dozens of buildings in Liverpool, for instance, were paid for by money made through the slave trade?

There’s even an argument to remove the statue of Churchill based on his racist views.

It all comes across as an emotional reaction to the times, rather than a logical and well thought out process. There should be public discussions about this, but we seem to be bypassing this in favour of loud and very vocal minority.


Meanwhile, Little Britain has been removed from iPlayer and Netflix for blackface criticisms.

The war on British history moves up a gear it seems.


https://www.lbcnews.co.uk/uk-news/sadiq-khan-forms-diversity-commission-to-review/?fbclid=IwAR1aqd9qvzJMpBlF2K3tuRPczfdA7BDtriulNtnnuny_hZyu0J4sjMZQntc

Imagine if Labour ever get in power? It will be like fascism. Blacklists for people who used offensive language (this was a policy in the 2016 election), purging of history, hate speech laws increased. etc.
And I f*cking hate the Tories lol

This is way too much. Most of history would be abolished if these standards are upheld.
Times change and moral standards change with them. Does that mean that each time we need to erase history to keep up with the times? History is history. This is just too dramatic of an approach

The U.K. has shown time and time again that they will never vote in a party of “control” where their liberties are at stake.

This was emphasised ten-fold with the landslide we saw in the last GE.

Exactly. But that's a problem: as long as Labour are this abysmal, the Tories can get away with keeping the current illiberal laws and adding a few more. Not to mention just being genuinely sh*t

We bang on so much about austerity, for instance, yet we still vote overwhelmingly for the Tories

Because the other option, is still deemed to be worse.

Really makes you think

P.S I spoilt my vote.

Be interesting to see how Khan fairs in the election. Nearly as polarising as Trump.
I think people are more upset about the chaos on TFL and possibly knife crime.

Also the failure to tackle knife crime in the capital. Now that would be showing BLM!