Bristol history professor David Olusoga said has huge regrets he wasn’t there to witness the pulling down of the statue of Edward Colston, because it was a moment of history.
The toppling happened just a short cyclefrom where the A House Through Time presenter lives in the city, but he ‘fought enormously’ against the urge to jump on his bike and get to the spot in The Centre.
The historian said he’d already taken the difficult decision not to attend that day’s Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol, because of concerns about the large gathering of people during the coronavirus pandemic.
So when he saw on social media the statue had been pulled down, he says the urge to travel down there to witness that moment himself was even stronger.
The statue was pulled down within just a couple of minutes of a large crowd gathering around it as the Black Lives Matter protest march travelled from College Green towards Broadmead and Castle Park.
There were then 83 minutes between the moment the statue hit the ground to the moment it was toppled into the harbour.
Prof Olusoga said he ‘desperately’ wanted to be part of the Black Lives Matter protest day in the first place, and the decision not to attend was ‘very difficult’, but he had promised his family he would be careful - and no-one knew the event would end up going down in history.
"Though, before I could be tortured by not being able to go, Colston's statue toppled,” he told Radio Times.
"It was a hugely emotional moment but, at that point, my job was to start writing,” he added.
"I was at home, doing what I normally do, trying to write while monitoring social media.
"I was following the crowds as they moved down to the statue.
"I desperately wanted to be there. Seeing people and all of this energy around the statue, I fought enormously against the urge to jump on my bike and cycle down there - my home is only ten minutes away.
"I've been in Bristol longer than anywhere else I've ever lived and throughout that time the statue has loomed over us,” he added.
“As an historian, I wish I’d seen the SS Great Britain being launched, or it being brought back up the river in 1970. I wish I’d seen the Queen Square riot and the Bristol Blitz. Of course historians long to witness history being made,” he added.
He said the negative reaction to the statue being pulled down was ‘predictable’, and was influenced by racism.
"Almost predictably, what happened in Bristol was put down to thuggery.
"The word 'thug' has long been used in this country as a dog whip for attacks on black people, it's a word that drips with racism, but it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
"The nearby statue of Edmund Burke wasn't touched. Queen Victoria's statue is around the corner - that wasn't touched.
"There's a supermarket full of alcohol. If there had been thuggery, there would have been broken windows, there would have been alcohol and cigarettes stripped off the shelf.
"None of that happened,” he added.
