behind paywall:
26 Jun: UK Telegraph: Tearing down statues will not ‘resolve the ills of the past’, Nelson Mandela’s widow warns
Graca Machel said that it is “more positive” to keep statues in their place so that future generations can learn about history
By Camilla Turner, Education Editor
She said that his views on the matter will be seen as “controversial” in some quarters, but explained that by keeping statues in place, lessons of the past will be kept at the forefront of people’s minds...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/26/tearing-statues-will-not-resolve-ills-past-nelson-mandelas-widow/
27 Jun: Daily Mail: Nelson Mandela’s widow says statues are part of our history and we must learn from them after Archbishop of Canterbury warns some ‘will have to come down’ as Church thinks again about portraying Jesus as white
•Graca Machel said: ‘I believe even it might be much more positive to keep them’
•The widow of former the South African president said statues should remain
•Rev Welby said statues in Canterbury Cathedral would be looked at ‘carefully’
•He said Jesus is portrayed differently, and Middle Eastern was ‘most accurate’
•Asked if the West needs to reimagine Jesus’ whiteness, he said: ‘Yes of course’
by Jack Elsom
Speaking to BBC Today, (Graca Machel) said: ‘It is not the issue of bringing down a statue which is going to resolve the ills of the past.
‘What is important is to look at the history of what is it which brought us to the situation where we are.
‘And of course you have to see who are the architects of the past. But I believe even it might be much more positive to keep them because you are going to tell generations to come “this is how it started and this is how it should never be”.
‘So I’m not really concerned with bringing down and breaking the statues. I know this is controversial but, you know, we need to have the memory and some of those symbols remind us, and they make the memory still valid.’
On the same programme, the head of the Church of England was asked if the ‘way the western church portrays Jesus needs to be thought about again’.
He immediately replied: ‘Yes of course it does, this sense that God was white... You go into churches (around the world) and you don’t see a white Jesus.
‘You see a black Jesus, a Chinese Jesus, a Middle Eastern Jesus - which is of course the most accurate - you see a Fijian Jesus.’...
Rev Welby stressed his view was not to ‘throw out’ the past but instead offer a rounded picture of the ‘universality’ of Christ...
Rev Welby also revealed that statues in Canterbury Cathedral would be under review on the back of a nationwide Black Lives Matter campaign to rip down monuments to controversial figures...
‘Some names will have to change. I mean, the church, goodness me, you know, you just go around Canterbury Cathedral, there’s monuments everywhere, or Westminster Abbey, and we’re looking at all that, and some will have to come down...
Pressed on whether he was saying statues will be torn down in the cathedral, Mr Welby said: ‘No I didn’t say that. I very carefully didn’t say that.’
He said it is not his decision, and told the Today programme: ‘We’re going to be looking very carefully and putting them in context and seeing if they all should be there.’...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8462735/Archbishop-Canterbury-says-Church-think-portraying-Jesus-white.html
interview ends with Machel saying Mandela will be vindicated for setting up the Mandela/Rhodes Foundation (named after Nelson Mandela and Cecil Rhodes) which provides full Scholarships for African students:
2h44m12s to 2h51m42s: BBC Today: Graca Machel
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000k9qx
without history..there was no slavery...What are these people whining about..they were never slaves
Thanks for the additional text!
Justin Welby is a fatuous fool, and every word he says in this article serves only to show it more clearly. Unfortunately, he’s only one of many. I’m beginning to think hundreds!