‘These statues are a reflection of our past and should not be seen as an obstacle to our future.’

A Cranham man is backing a petition to save all the statues in the country. Graham, a Health and Safety Consultant is supporting the petition that asks the Government to save all statues in the country, following a call by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for a review of the capital’s statues.

Graham told the Havering Daily: “These statues are a reflection of our past and should not be seen as an obstacle to our future.”

Graham is supporting the motion to keep all statues in place and not for them to be moved to a museum.

He continued: “I don’t think they should be put into a museum, people need to be educated on their history as most people don’t know why they are there.

“The majority of people in the area did not even know who Edward Colston was and during that time, it wasn’t illegal to be a slave trader.

“I agree with the Black Lives Matter but not in the extreme form it’s taking. I’m not a racist. To me, all black lives matter regardless of where you are. I have been very vocal over the plight of the Christians in Nigeria killed by Boko Haram.”

He finished by saying: “These statues are our past and we have moved on immensely in the last years. We need to change through education.“