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Re-Defacing of NELSON Statue in Bridgetown

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Submitted by David Comissiong, President, Clement Payne Movement of Barbados
Nelson statue defaced on the eve of Independence Day.
The person left a message.

Dear Sir / Madam,

I wish to remind Barbadians that it is not only the usual Afrocentric activists such as Trevor Marshall, Anthony “Mighty Gabby” Carter, Sir Hilary Beckles and David Comissiong who have been persistently calling for the removal of the Lord Nelson statue from its central and prestigious location in our capital city of Bridgetown.

In the year 1999 the then Barbados Government established a governmental “National Heroes Square and Gallery Development Committee” to consider and decide upon this issue of the correct location of the Nelson statue (among other issues).

I was a member of that National Committee.

The Committee held three Town Hall meeting on the issue and also solicited and received scores of written submissions from the people of Barbados.

In May 2000 the Committee issued its Report and recommended the REMOVAL and RELOCATION of the Nelson statue to one of two possible alternative locations.

The Committee also recommended that the statue be immediately taken down and kept in storage pending its relocation, lest it provoke “public controversy.” (See page 15 of the Report)

Membership of the Committee consisted of several very eminent and qualified Barbadians.

Sadly and regrettably the Recommendation of the Committee on the Nelson Statue has never been implemented.

I say that it is never too late to do the right thing, and hereby Call upon the present Government to take immediate steps to implement the recommendation of this National Committee by removing the Nelson Statue from its current prominent location in the heart of our capital city.

PLEASE  FIND  THE  RELEVANT  EXTRACT  OF  THE  REPORT  ATTACHED  HERETO.

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233 responses to “Re-Defacing of NELSON Statue in Bridgetown”

  1. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ DC

    Asking Barbadians to remove the Lord Nelson statue is like asking the Italians to implode the leaning tower of Pisa; or the French to dismantle the Eiffel Tower. It is a fixture in our landscape and a reminder of our history. Removing the statue will not erase the history. The fault was in renaming the spot Heroes Square. It was a ploy that failed.
    If erecting the statue was the folly of a past generation, so be it. I think we are straining at a gnat here. And while we are doing this we are missing valuable opportunities to advance as a nation.
    A word to the wise.

  2. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    It was an enhancement, not a defacement… independence national colours. It’s the first time in over two centuries that the monument has had any relevance to 🇧🇧 Barbados.

  3. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    I find it fascinating that so many expend so much energy defending the monument to a racist erected by other racists. The history will not be changed by moving the statue… the point in doing so is to change the present and future by a publicly distinguishing ourselves from that racist history.

  4. John Avatar
    John

    It is that simple BC!!!!

    Waste of time!!

  5. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    PLT at 9:27PM

    Peter are you endorsing RH lawlesness?

  6. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    PLT @ 9 :31 PM

    No, Peter. You distinguish yourself from the racists by not being racist.

  7. Peter Thompson Avatar
    Peter Thompson

    @Bernard Codrington at 9:39 PM

    When the Russians toppled statues of Lenin did you accuse them of RH lawlesness? I thought not. So Russians can demonstrate their rejection of communism and you cheer, but Bajans demonstrate rejection of racism by throwing a little non toxic pain that causes no permanent damage and you and John get your panties in a knot. Hmmm

  8. Peter Thompson Avatar
    Peter Thompson

    paint^

  9. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    @David Commissiong “Sadly and regrettably the Recommendation of the Committee on the Nelson Statue has never been implemented.”

    Sadly and regrettably indeed.

    A 1999 recommendation not yet implemented.

    A political class without balls.

    Let Nelson be gone. He has too long overstayed his welcome.

    Go like RH.

  10. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    Bernard must have forgotten that the EiffelTower was built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, the beginning of the French Revolution, when the French violently freed themselves from their royal oppressors.

    So to compare the Eiffel Tower with Nelson is an entirely false equivalence.

  11. Theophilius Gazert 215 Avatar
    Theophilius Gazert 215

    I like to say that Bajans are men of words and not of action. It appears that I may have to eat those words….

  12. Theophilius Gazert 215 Avatar
    Theophilius Gazert 215

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/letters_to_editor/95902/about-nelson

  13. Theophilius Gazert 215 Avatar
    Theophilius Gazert 215

    Discussion has been ongoing for some time
    http://mongoosechronicles.blogspot.com/2009/01/move-horation-nelson-cry-of-clamouring.html

  14. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    Tobesides I think that Nelson looks cute in his yellow pants, kinda like ninjaman on a good day.

  15. Theophilius Gazert 215 Avatar
    Theophilius Gazert 215

    Can anyone tell me why we have Bajans on BU and FB telling us how great slavery was?

    Could it be possible that we use to accept those fairy tales?

  16. Theophilius Gazert 215 Avatar
    Theophilius Gazert 215

    Think I figured it out.
    To some Bajans slavery was just a job.
    If I can paraphrase one BU contributor “It put food on the table and a roof over your head”.
    They refer to ‘the master” raping women and producing children as mixing.
    Then the Quakers provided a free education.
    One day they will ask us if we want back the Good Old Days.
    Hell No!
    Take VH back wid ya…

  17. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Hope the paint is non toxic. Pigeons need a safe place to shite.

  18. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    Waste of time, it should have been dragged and thrown into the Careenage !!!!

  19. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    sounds like some bajans are revolting

  20. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Or put in a museum, either would work…

    Someone needs to research if as people are saying that the statue stands on a hole where Africans who died on the Africa to Barbados slave journey were unceremoniously dumped in that pit where nelson statue stands….I know the slave gate was nit far from the statue.

    ….. if this information is accurate, that the area is indeed an African burial ground the statue has to be removed.

    Theo….John already spent years of his life trying to convince us on BU that those slave days gone by were much better for Black people and it should be looked at as an even better option today. ..with Vincent by his side.

    One has to ask Bernard how is taking down a statue of a known white racist, terrorist, enslaver, murderer of Black people and with all of that there is no way nelson would not have been also a rapist of Black women and children…..how oh how does Bernard see taking down that cursed statue or throwing paint on it as Black people being racist..

    Why do clowns like to apply their racist label to blacks who are defending the right to express their displeasure at and actions of evil racists….who victimized their ancestors.

    You advance as a nation by not enabling racism and racists to determine your destiny as they have done in the past….it is a nation of majority Black people, the blighted statue gotta go, particularly if it sits on an African burial ground.

  21. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Just like the revolt in Canada where reparations for African Canadians is now taking center stage Lawson…seems like you were hiding that information from us…even the UN has become involved.

    Do you remember I told you that this will happen.

    If that cursed old piece of stone that is nelson is found to be sitting on or near a pit that holds the remains of dead Africans….it has to be removed and Commisiong and others should research this to confirm the veracity, the person who posted the information, seemed very certain.

  22. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    Wow! Eight years of downgrades, south coast sewage spilling onto the streets for extended periods without any end in sight, Graeme Hall wetland polluted, pot holes on every roadway, public transportation in disarray, ABC highway lighting spasmodic, QEH and public health on deathbed, CBC a disgrace, education under attack, UWI arrears incomprehensible and we find time to passionately discuss the merits or demerits of removing the statue of Nelson.

    Is there any wonder why we find ourselves where we are today? Okay, go ahead and remove the bloody statue and be done with it and all of the above problems will immediately be resolved BECAUSE NELSON IS THE CAUSE. I truly despair for my country and my people.

  23. David Avatar
    David

    @Fearplay

    More accurately what some are saying is if we do not correct some symbols of the past that transmit wrong messages it impacts on the psyche of a people going forward (hate the term). It is debatable but a philosophical position worth debating.

  24. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    Welcome to the non-developed world! What about moving one of our local black politicians to the position? I really wonder what is going on in Barbados. The country is collapsing, crime, debt level is 200% (including all statutory corporations), only criminals like Don Maestro are investing in Barbados. And what are people doing? A paint job. Moving the statute might be politically correct, but it won´t change the rotten attitude in Barbados with zero work ethic and a demotivated workforce in the public sector.

    There has been only one Barbadian the last 200 years with balls big enough, namely Saint Bussa. Move him to the central place to remind people that sweet talk is not enough, action and sacrifices are needed. An ability not known in Barbados anymore.

  25. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    When you have commenters on facebook and ND who obviously consider themselves some kinda “white bajan” brazenly saying that if the little mingy number of barely 7,500 whites who live off the backs of the same majority Black population, leave Barbados the island will cease to exist, as though the remaining 260,000 majority Black population, who these same cretins and degenerates need to survive… do not exist or are invisible and not considered people…..or are unable to manage on their own.

    So….yes Fearplay…..you remove the bullshit, racist, slavery relics of the past like nelson whose mere presence still gives these white ingrates the courage to spread these lies and misinformation within the population……including the lie that if it was not for the racist nelson….blacks would be dead.

    So yes….remove the vehicles of lies, like nelson……so that the nation can be made whole…and move on….that will in no way stop ministers from doing the jobs they have neglected for the last decade….and more.

  26. Lee Avatar
    Lee

    For goodness sake, let us move the statue before we embarrass ourselves any more. We might even charge a fee for persons interested in heritage to go see it. The armchair historians are adding to OUR fall by supporting vandalism !!

  27. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    @David 06:23 – Let’s be honest David, when last have you seen Nelson’s statue as you drive or walk by? How many young people pass that statue every day and reflect on the goodness of badness of the man? In a recent conversation with my 13 year old daughter I mentioned Nelson’s statue in order to identify a location in Bridgetown and there was a puzzled look on her face as she processed who or what I was talking about. How many Barbadians see the Emancipation statue as we pass by or gaze upon it with fond reflection as it motivates us to excel at building our nation?

    I personally prefer to concentrate on being a better ME in everything I do in order to contribute toward building a better nation. Not once in my lifetime has Nelson, his exploits, reputation or history influenced me, my behavior, my thinking or self-image.

    No my friend, removing that statue will not stop a single Barbadian for robbing or shooting another Barbadian. Removing the statue will not stop school children from stomping on, stabbing and hacking at each other. The statue does not cause Barbadian men to refrain from abusing their partners, engaging in human, gun and drug trafficking. Feelings of inferiority and low self-image come from within and until we are willing to stand up for what is really important and not to allocate blame for our poor mirror image to an inanimate object.

    Instead of worrying about Nelson, what we should instead be worried about is the fact that after fifty-one years of independence (?) we are today celebrating what must be the lowest ebb in the true meaning of the word Independence as it applies to this nation and Nelson did not cause this!

  28. Fractured BLP Avatar
    Fractured BLP

    So why the puppet – David Come – Along – was unable to convince his cousin Mia Mottley – who occupied a prominent position in the said BLP government in 2000 ……that refused to implement the recommendations of the committee he sat on ????

    So why is he calling on this DLP government now ?

    Come – Along would do BARBADOS 🇧🇧 a great good – on this 51st Anniversary of Independence ……to go and plunge his loopy dog 🐶 backside ……in the CAREENAGE !!!

  29. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    No my friend, removing that statue will not stop a single Barbadian for robbing or shooting another Barbadian. Removing the statue will not stop school children from stomping on, stabbing and hacking at each other. The statue does not cause Barbadian men to refrain from abusing their partners, engaging in human, gun and drug trafficking. Feelings of inferiority and low self-image come from within and until we are willing to stand up for what is really important and not to allocate blame for our poor mirror image to an inanimate object.

    but it will damn well stop local whites from having the courage to believe they are entitled to steal from the black population, discriminate against and practice racism….and most of all commit crimes themselves with the belief that there are no consequences for their criminal actions.

    cause and effect…

  30. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    @Well Well.. and if you believe that, I’ll tell you another one.

  31. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    Mia better get her damn act together and see where all of this is going….that is why people are very hesitant to vote for these 2 old blighted like the nelson statue…..political parties.

  32. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    Fearplay….that would be a beginning, ya gotta start somewhere, those evil relics of racism and enslavement, gives those who consider themselves racists and white supremicists courage to continue their evil ways, look how quickly you forgot Charlotte….many statues were removed in US …where racist demons gathered, they gather no more…

    then the laws started being enforced to arrest those practicing racism and discrimination..and expose them…

    because they had to start somewhere…

    white racists and thieves in Barbados are not untouchable…it`s all in your mind.

  33. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    there are too few racists on the island…just a few thousand, easy to clean up and dispense with.

  34. John Avatar
    John

    There has been only one Barbadian the last 200 years with balls big enough, namely Saint Bussa. Move him to the central place to remind people that sweet talk is not enough, action and sacrifices are needed. An ability not known in Barbados anymore.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Here is the amazing consistency in Bajans’ thinking which illustrates their departure from reality and truth.

    No one can say anything factual about Bussa.

    The Bussa presented to us is an entirely fictional character.

    Not one historian can say where or when he was born or where or when he died.

    We can get historians debating about who really fomented the rebellion and for any one historian who promotes Bussa there will be another who will raise Washington Pitt Franklin or someone else.

    Everything presented about him is just someone’s imagination!!

    Google Bussa and see if you can say for a fact when he died or indeed if he died.

    The best you will find is “he died in battle”

    Yet, the fates of numerous slaves and free coloureds can be described with absolute certainty with facts, just not Bussa.

    Bussa is a complete joke!!

    A complete waste of time.

    My position is simple, all statues purporting to represent dead (or living, Sir Gary) people should be removed, but they should be removed for the right reason.

    If Bajans get to the position where they consider them as “graven images” ie, get back religious, then we can move them for the right reason.

    I am sure you used the word “Saint” with tongue in cheek but let me just quote the second commandment to show you how seriously this was viewed by God.

    “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of then that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.”

  35. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    i have not seen the apology myself as yet, but i understand that the Bajan white who disparaged black bajans on facebook yesterday, despite being well aware of the racism, thefts, discrimination and crimes that both governments have allowed this minority group to practice against the people for 50 years….without any consequences……has apologized on facebook …for her nasty words to black people.

  36. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    all this white privilege and bullshit these 2 dirty black governments allowed to be committed against the people for the last 50 years…have to end.

  37. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    John is typical of most whites in Barbados – in his attitude to blacks.
    It is how they were socialised.

    He is different, in that he is bold (or stupid) enough to say it out loud…

    By their ACTIONS, however, his rantings nearly EXACTLY represent how this group THINKS and ACTS….

    Again we owe David(BU) a debt of gratitude for the level of EDUCATION that he has been able to bring to ordinary Bajans…
    To be forewarned is to be forearmed
    ….but this is of no help to brass bowls …unfortunately.

    …the man David is a TRUE BOSS….
    The only REAL question is…
    Is he just a ‘man’…. or is he a bushman in disguise…????
    LOL
    ha ha ha

    BTW
    nelson’s ass should have been in the sea YEARS ago….

  38. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Don’t think of it as “defacing”, think of it as decorative embellishment celebrating Independence where everything is adorned in the national colours of the rock.

    If Bajans are keen to get rid of the symbol they can perform an act similar to the new Americans in Boston when they dumped the Tea into the harbor and became the subject of folklore, forever celebrated as The Boston Tea Party. They can dump Nelson into the Careenage where that act can be celebrated as Barbados Nelson Party and years from now our descendants will sing paeans of nationalism to the fearless souls who led the charge.

  39. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    lol….John is getting too dim to even elicit much response from me these days, so that should tell him he is sinking more and more into obscurity, with Vincent right behind.

  40. David Avatar
    David

    Why must we distill the damn issues in White vs Black? This is not what is at play here. Bear in mind these types of conversations are taking place across the globe i.e. nationalist versus others.

  41. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    i think also getting fired from your restaurant job as it is now being said that this little unknowledegable little child has been, it will also soften the stance of any racist, after that type of rant…

    ..always knew it would be a self proclaimed bajan white woman would be the first example made…they are particularly nasty to black people on the island as i have witnessed countless times and had to threaten to flatten a few of them myself, many years ago i gave one a black eye to remind her to show respect.

    ah hope it is not John or Vincent`s granddaughter got fired for inappropriately sounding off on such a public forum and without any provocation..

  42. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    i think we will reach that place soon…but first….the clean up, bear in mind that none of us asked for this, these evil practices should have been destroyed at their roots decades ago….there is enough blame to go around.

    another generation should not be born and have to witness or be subjected to or have to debate any of this, these evil practices must be wiped out of existence permanently…bajan whites are particularly nasty in their racist practices.

    i have said on here many times…i have a rainbow family and would not want any of them subjected to any of these practices, now…or in the future..

  43. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    FearPlay November 30, 2017 at 8:33 AM #

    Well said. The obsession with Nelson is a reflection of our failure to properly manage the country. ….

  44. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Why must we distill the damn issues in White vs Black?
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    because one must address problems at their root
    …and we have a big problem tree …growing from this root…

  45. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    @ Bush Tea
    “because one must address problems at their root
    …and we have a big problem tree …growing from this root…”

    AMEN

  46. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ Bush Tea at 10 :41 AM

    Do you really think that the root of the current Barbadian problems is the colour of our skins?

    Why are we keeping this fiction alive?

    Whose purpose is it serving?

    Whose agenda is being completed?

    Do we not have bigger and better fish to fry?

    This is another diversionary tactic .Please do not fall for it again.

  47. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @Mr Blogmaster, good luck with that one viz “Why must we distill the damn issues in White vs Black?”

    As the Bushman asserts, that is the ROOT so whether you call it nationalism, historical redux or whatever suitable vernacular…it still goes back to the root issue of Black and White or maybe a variation Sunni v Shia.

    All those global conversation on statues and related are rooted in racial/ethnic discord.

    Top of mind examples:

    Rhodes issue in UK – race
    Christopher Columbus statue issue in US- race/ethnicity
    Confederate statue/flag issue in US – race
    DR issue noted on other blog (replicated differently in Panama Canal Zone, Costa Rica’s Limon area) – race

    Lets not run from the reality.

    A hard debate surely but it is what it is and always has been.

  48. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Bernard…ya just as lost as the next person….skin color is not the problem…it’s the nasty practices by those who associate skin color with inferiority….and those who associate skin color with superiority. …that is the problem..

    …..ah mean….all these centuries and we STILL cant get that right.,.

    Definition of practices as is applicable to the practice of racism.

    prac·tice
    ˈpraktəs/Submit
    noun
    1.
    the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method as opposed to theories about such application or use.
    “the principles and practice of teaching”
    synonyms: application, exercise, use, operation, implementation, execution

    Besides…as I said, some research now has to be put into the claim that the statue rests on an African burial ground…Africans who died but were destined for enslavement, brutality, a life of horror, buying and selling and rapes..lpwho were dumped instead in a slave pit. ….

    ..,,,…I did hear about this slave pit, but was too small to remember details.

    …..if that is the case and a burial ground is in that area around nelson, the statue gotta go and a memorial to these victims put in its place….I will leave the real historians to do that research.

  49. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Bushman….get rid of the PRACTICES….ya get rid of the problem…..

    Ya cant leave visual aids like nelson lying around or standing around to help prolong the same negative, centuries old PRACTICES. …that are alive and well….centuries later.

  50. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    John at 9 : 12 AM

    You asked facetiously if” Bussa died’; but I will ask ,also facetiously, “did he live?”
    In classical history each nation had its heroes; some real many fictitious. But human beings like stories and in telling stories. national mythologies are created …and for political purposes.

    I remember at primary school singing “Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves, For Britain never never shall be slaves. By mid secondary school , I knew that Britain was enslaved at least a dozen times in recorded history.
    The moral is “live and let live”. We all like stories . We all have our mythologies. They help us to live with ourselves….the man in the mirror.

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