Response to letter July 3.

When Hitler’s Germany fell, Nazi statues across Europe also fell in an effort to exorcise Fascism.

This was not erasing history, but part of providing an antidote to it.

It is not just statues, honours of various types are sometimes rescinded, where behaviour of the person is re- perceived very differently, e.g. the Queen directed that the CBE. awarded to Rolf Harris be annulled and his name erased from the register.

Robert Mugabe was stripped of his knighthood for human rights violations.

In Kendal, a plaque with Stuart Hall’s name on it was removed.

This is not trashing history, but re-evaluating it in the light of deeper understanding.

If the public servants in Bristol had listened to the years of overwhelming public opinion to remove the statue, then good order would have been preserved.

The Black Lives Matter movement has helped develop a wider acknowledgement of racism in our society, illuminating the racism of the past and the abuses perpetrated by Colston, Rhodes and others, who we must no longer support in positions of esteem.

The letter in last week's Mail, condemning the removing of statues does not mention “Black Lives Matter” at all. Its author’s eyes are tight shut.

But I hold the hope that at least parts of our society may have stopped sleepwalking, and if so, black lives may become safer and freer from discrimination that they are now.

Paul Casson

Address supplied