ALTHOUGH I have much sympathy for the family of George Floyd and am appalled at the behaviour of the police in his death, I cannot go along with the suggestions from MSP Ivan McKee to rename streets to eliminate these names from our history.
Because historical events are repulsive to today’s standards and way of life, we should not attempt to erase them or dismiss historical facts.
Does he realise that in the Ordnance Survey street atlas of Glasgow and the West of Scotland there are 22 Buchanan, 13 Cochrane, 10 Oswald, four Jamaica and two Ingram roadways – does he want them ALL changed? And what about the village of Glassford in Lanarkshire – what does he suggest as a new name there?
History is history and we can apologise for it but we cannot change it.
Alistair MacKenzie
Via email
I DON’T think the police have learned anything from previous incidents like the Rodney King (right) debacle in 1991 which caused huge riots in Los Angeles.
Even after the death of George Floyd and the riots that incident has caused, we still see police on a daily basis with batons held high, pushing and shoving elderly peaceful protesters to the ground then just leaving them lying with blood pouring from head wounds. So much for serve and protect.
And then there’s politicians like Donald Trump and Priti Patel telling protesters to stay at home because of the coronavirus. More like hoping the people will stay home and forget about institutional racism and police brutality. The mere fact that people are risking their lives to protest about these injustices should tell the politicians that enough is enough. It’s time to realise they and the police work for us. Not the other way around.
Richard Low
Twechar
SO there we have it. Pubs are saying that the two-metre social distancing measure will have to go as they won’t make enough money when they finally open up again.
Never mind the health aspect, just as long as we can cash in.
There has been a lot of lobbying going on in the hospitality industry to have the measure diluted to one metre.
I have no doubt that many Tory MPs will try to push this through as they probably have shares in the industry.
You can also bet that the price of drinks in these establishments will soar in an attempt to recoup lost revenues. Just hope that the Scottish Government stands strong against such selfish proposals.
MS
Glasgow
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