1 Introduction: is it wise to decolstonize?

This introduction to the forum outlines the events in Bristol that led to the discussion in the following pages, and makes the argument that, however satisfying it might be to remove celebratory monuments to figures nowadays deemed personae non grata, there are hidden dangers in too zealous an effort to correct urban memory landscapes. Eradicating the celebratory memorialization of those linked to colonial and imperial crimes, of which slavery is the quintessence, may endanger the project of convincing our fellow citizens that contemporary reparation for historic wrongdoing is fair and just.