Welcome! Introduction to the Campaign

Welcome to the blog for the Remove the Slave Trader Memorial Campaign. This is a space where we hope to update you on the progress of the campaign and educate you about Falmouth and its history with the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

For our first post we wanted to share the objectives of the Campaign, which are:

This is an anti-racist campaign. We believe that racism in British institutions is systemic. In this case it is the Church. Displaying an artefact that glorifies someone who enslaved black people is deeply offensive. That’s why we think the artefact, the memorial to a slave trader, should be removed. If anything, it should only be displayed in a museum. There the British enrichment from the Transatlantic Slave Trade can be contextualised, and provide a collective memory for future generations.

Part of the way to tackle racism is to understand its historical roots. Skin colour racism especially against people of African descent from the Caribbean is rooted in the Slave Codes. For England, the Slave Codes were first legislated for in Barbados by slave-grown sugar plantation owners. As Eric Williams points out in Capitalism and Slavery, “slavery was not born out of racism; rather, racism was the consequence of slavery.” It lives with us today.