SOME people have expressed concern over the lack of social distancing at the Black Lives Matter events.

I totally understand why anti-racists, especially those who experience racism in almost every area of their daily lives, view racism as a far more pernicious threat than Covid.

I wonder if the people worried about the BLM protests raised similar concerns about the Cheltenham Festival, or about the disproportionate impact of Covid on the BAME communities?

Government and other representatives of the ruling class have decried the destruction of statues to slave traders and imperialists.

Some historians argue that we should not “erase” our own history.

For black people the legacy of slavery is ever present.

No statue should honour their degradation as human beings.

I suspect the Tories did not condemn the destruction of statues of Marx, Engels and Lenin.

And who would have said Saddam Hussein’s statue should remain intact as part of Iraqi history?

It’s not enough to remove statues, we need to remove every vestige of a system that exploits, demeans and enslaves.

It is time for us to create our own history and our monument should be a society that is not based on exploitation and which does not place profit and property before people.

Susan Powell

Abbeydale