This British Black Mayor Removed Portrait Of Slave Trader In Her First Month In Office

By PAULA ROGO via https://www.essence.com

The new Lord Mayor of Bristol has yet to finish her first month in office, and she is already making some major changes.

Councillor Cleo Lake, who is a mixed-race woman, has had the portrait of the slave trader Edward Colston removed from her office. The move happened after she decided that she did not want to share her working space with the painting.

“I spend a lot of time here, I’m here nearly every day,” she said. “It made me feel uncomfortable sharing the parlor with the portrait.”

The portrait, which Colston sat for in 1702, has belonged to the Bristol city council for decades and has hung in the office of the Lord Mayor since at least 1953 when City Hall was opened. It has now been placed …

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