How to handle racists’ statues

IN 1895 THE burghers of Bristol in south-west England, swept up by the Victorian fervour for celebrating city fathers, were casting about for a big historical cheese of their own. They settled on Edward Colston, a 17th-century merchant who had endowed charities that have lifted innumerable indigent Bristolians out of poverty and educated hordes of its young citizens over the centuries. But, by modern standards, they picked the wrong guy: Colston made his money largely through the Royal African Company, which shipped slaves from Africa to the West Indies. On June 7th protesters chucked his statue into the city’s harbour.