Catholic priest joins in call for statue to go

Recent calls for the removal of Horatio Nelson’s controversial statue from Bridgetown’s Heroes’ Square has attracted the support of yet another respected religious leader, who on Sunday expressed solidarity with recent anti-racism displays in Barbados

In his return to the pulpit for the first time since March, Monsignor Vincent Blackett turned his attention to ongoing movements across the world currently demanding racial justice following the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota Police.

On Sunday, the religious leader drew comparisons between the death of Floyd and the crucifixion of Jesus.

“Mother, mother, I cannot breathe. When I heard those words from George Floyd, I immediately thought of the crucifixion of Jesus and as Roman Catholics who have a love for Mary, it taught us something too because we call her Mother,” said Blackett.

“I watched that [police] officer with this knee on the neck of that young man. Jesus carried the weight of the world on his shoulders and this young man was carrying the weight of all the institutional injustices that exist within our societies, and I believe that is what original sin was,” Blackett told Barbados TODAY after his sermonette at Our Lady Queen of the Universe Catholic Church, Black Rock, St Michael.

“It is the sin of the institutions and I believe that racism is the biggest of those sins. Imagine we are fighting two things that sprung up suddenly. We have Covid-19, which is a big challenge, and then we have these race issues that have sprung up worldwide and we really need to work together to ensure that the world is a better place.”

The former Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Diocese told Barbados TODAY that had he known about Saturday’s Black Lives Matter march beforehand, he may have been marching alongside hundreds of citizens from Kensington Oval against racism and police abuse.

“We have been saying these things for the longest time and the oppression continues. So I support them and I support the call to take down Nelson and put him in the museum,” Monsignor Blackett declared.

“[Nelson] was put up there as a symbol of the power of the British and at the same time, he was a man that was engaged in slavery and we need to say that we want an end to everything associated with slavery,” he explained.

The endorsement follows the recent launch of an online petition by youth leader Alex Downes calling for the statue’s removal. It has already attracted more than 10,000 signatures. Downes told Barbados TODAY that as part of phase two of his appeal, he would be seeking support from the religious community.

During Saturday’s march organised by the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration, Secretary of the Barbados Muslim Association Suleiman Bulbulia also called for the statue’s removal as he launched a verbal attack on persistent racial discrimination, oppression and injustice.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb