Object Number: TD7128

Collection: Social History

Object Name: flyer

Description: '#GladColstonsGone/ Support the Bristol Topplers Fund!' flyer. Black and white image of the Colston statue being pulled to the ground during a Black Lives Matter protest, with crowds in the background. QR code top right links to: 'https://www.gofundme.com/f/gladcolstonsgone-support-the-bristol-topplers-d' ( fundraising page for the people charged with toppling the statue). #GladColstonsGone! Support the Bristol Topplers’ Defence Fund! The webpage reads (in November 2021): '@GladColstonsGone is organising this fundraiser On 7th June 2020, ten thousand people in Bristol succeeded where countless petitions, articles and other public objections had fallen short, removing a century-old public tribute to racism and slavery. For toppling the Colston statue, four of the ten thousand have been singled-out to face criminal damage charges and need our support before they go to trial later this year. As fury over George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis weeks before united people around the world against systemic racism and police brutality, the Bristol action highlighted the links between the city’s racist past and present. The historic oppression of Bristol's working class by the local wealthy elites, state & police, has in recent times focused disproportionately on people of colour through discrimination, racial profiling, and violence. This structural racism can be traced back to the white supremacist nature of the transatlantic slave trade, and its profits - from which the local white merchant elites built their own and Bristol's wealth. The toppling of the Edward Colston statue was a cathartic piece of non-violent direct action that rippled across the globe, igniting debates around racism, slavery and what we consider to be our 'heritage', as well as prompting many more local organisations in Bristol (from institutions to buildings to street names) to drop the Colston name for good. The four protesters facing charges are due to appear at Bristol Crown Court on the 13th December 2021 for a jury trial lasting up to eight days. That means hefty additional legal costs, along with lost income and other expenses that we hope the rest of the ten thousand people who brought the Colston statue down, and supporters around the world, will ensure are covered. How can Bristol hope to address its ongoing racial inequalities, if a slave trader is still venerated in the heart of the city? The toppling was a justified and necessary action that we believe the vast majority of Bristol stands behind. Despite the fact that calls to drop the charges are ongoing, it is likely the four will still have to stand trial. If you are #GladColstonsGone, please donate and help spread the word! Your donations will go towards, in priority order: - Legal fees not covered by legal aid (estimated at £12,000). - Covering loss of earnings sustained as a result of attending court. - Any travel costs related to court case. - Any other costs related to the court case. - In the event that there are funds remaining, they will be donated to local black-led anti-racist & community groups. Thank You! @GladColstonsGone & the Defendants Read more Updates (1) June 7, 2021 by Glad Colstons Gone, Organizer Today is the 1st anniversary of the toppling of the Colston statue on 7th June 2020. Firstly we would like to thank every one of you who has donated so far, your support means a lot! Secondly, we still have some way to go - so we ask all who have kindly donated to (or shared) the crowdfunder, to please Share it again and ask a friend to support us. Thank You. Whilst 4 of the protesters from a year ago face criminal charges - and we demand #DropTheCharges - politicians of all stripes continue to play football with the issue of the mass-murdering slave-trader's statue, while basking in the glow of media attention, despite having done absolutely nothing to resolve the issues in recent years and decades. There is no need to debate 'What Next' for the Colston statue. It is down. It is in a museum. It should remain there. But in a permanent display, contextualised by both the factual history of the transatlantic slave trade, and by the impact on those who were so cruelly enslaved - and continue to suffer the lasting effects of a system that treated them then, and indeed now, as somehow less than human or second class. We are #GladColstonsGone from his pedestal. Bristol is a better city without such a symbol of a dark past being venerated in our midst.'