News / David Olusoga
David Olusoga: ‘Bristol is a better place since the toppling of Colston’s statue’
Historian and broadcaster David Olusoga says that “Bristol is a better place” since the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston.
The statue of the slave trader was torn down by Black Lives Matter protesters in June 2020, sending shockwaves across the world.
Olusoga described the statue as an “appalling thing to have on display” in the latest episode of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.
is needed now More than ever
“This is a man who transported more people into slavery than any in British history,” the 51-year-old told presenter Lauren Laverne.
“I think his statue pretended the only story about him was his philanthropy, which was undoubted – he gave lots of money to Bristol. But that money came from slavery.”
Colston’s involvement in the Atlantic Slave Trade left him was responsible for an estimated 19,000 deaths. Olusoga noted that Colston donated much of his fortune to Bristol-based charities and churches, but that this money was borne of human suffering.
The Colston statue fell in June 2020. Photo: Harry Pugsley
Numerous streets and venues bore his name until the Colston statue fell, which the historian and presenter of A House Through Time wishes had been removed years ago, saying: “That statue told one side of his story and denied the existence of his victims.”
When asked what he would say to people arguing for the statue to return to its plinth, he said this would have been an “attack on history”, saying its removal represents society reassessing the celebration of slavery.
Born in Lagos, the second child to a Nigerian father and a British mother, Olusoga was brought up by his mother in Gateshead after his parents’ marriage broke down.
As a child, he and his siblings experienced sustained racism and during his interview with Laverne he thanked former England footballer Paul Gascoigne, who went to the same primary school as him, for stepping in to help after one attack when they were both children.
In 2020, Olusoga delivered the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival in which he talked candidly about his loneliness at being the only black person on a production team and the difficulties he had trying to explain the racial implications of how, for example, people in Africa were often portrayed on screen.
These are the records that he chose on Desert Island Discs:
- Zombie by Fela Kuti
- Roll on Buddy by Aunt Molly Jackson
- Black Mountain Blues by Bessie Smith
- Just the Other Day by Dr Alimantado
- Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground by Blind Willie Johnson
- Last Kind Words by Geeshie Wiley
- You Can’t Blame the Youth (live At The Record Plant ’73) by Bob Marley & The Wailers
- Precious Lord, Take My Hand / You’ve Got a Friend by Aretha Franklin
His book choice was The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell and his luxury item was an acoustic guitar – familiar to those who have watched him speak from his home in Bristol, with five hanging on the wall behind him.
Main photo: BBC
Read more: David Olusoga ‘desperately’ wanted to join Colston protests in Bristol
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