Edward Colston And the Coronavirus: A Reflection on Narratives of Taxation in Taxing Times

Abstract

Summer 2020 was marked by compounding, global tragedy. Since the beginning of the year, the Coronavirus pandemic has claimed millions of lives, and destroyed economies. Additionally, on the 25th May, George Floyd died following his arrest outside of a shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota, triggering mass protests and demonstrations around the world. The aim of this article is to consider whether two tragedies, of global impact – the COVID-19 pandemic, and the death of George Floyd – might provide an impetus to consider a slightly less traditional aspect of the story of Edward Colston, the seventeenth century Bristolian merchant whose statue was thrown into the River Avon at the height of the summer protests in the UK, a bit more closely. Covid-19 has impacted persons from BAME backgrounds disproportionately, in the UK and around the world; and, the profound global reaction to the release of