I fully agree with Andrew Lamb in his letter in the Evening Express on June 11 with regards to tearing down statues (‘Rioting will not change system’).
I think the approach taken in Aberdeen was much more effective given that we are in the midst of a Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing rules and bans on mass gatherings are in place.
While out delivering groceries, going up Westburn Road on the railings of Victoria Park and similarly going between Woolmanhill and Skene Square, I could not help but be struck by the messages of the placards and banners and I’m sure many people in Aberdeen will have seen them. It was much more effective in getting the message across than the mob rule and anarchy of tearing down statues in various places, in my opinion.
The civil rights movement in the USA under the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King achieved a great deal, as did the peaceful bus boycott by Rosa Parks, and let the bus owners know they would be hit in the pocket unless they changed their ways.
Yes, there is debate to be began on the dark side of the history of both Scotland and the UK, but if you think tearing down statues, Saddam Hussein like, will change racist attitudes then I beg to differ.
Thomas Peter Ovenstone, Peterhead.
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