Hey Edinburgh. It's past time this was removed. We need to be better than this. We need to admit to our past and commit to doing things better from now on. #emptytheplinth
While Glasgow's relationship with slavery has been noted, Edinburgh's is probably worse. This map shows how so many more compensation payments were made in Edinburgh. ucl.ac.uk/lbs/maps/brita… 
The compensation payments were made to the owners of slaves, when the slaves were freed. It was one of the biggest ever pay outs made by the British Gov. Per UK Treasury: "In 1833, Britain used £20 million, 40% of its national budget, to buy freedom for all slaves in the Empire."
(A debt run up – to make the rich more richer – that was only paid off full in 2015) mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/t…
You may be wondering if the slaves were compensated. In the US, as Dr King noted, "America freed the slaves in 1863… but gave the slaves no land or nothing in reality… to get started on."
In Brazil it was a similar situation.
What happened to the freed British-owned slaves in hard to ascertain, it seems. No law or act pertains to them.
We can only guess they were left to become destitute, or as in the US, become defacto slaves to their former masters, paid a pittance to do their former slave jobs. Effectively indentured servitude in a racist system.
All the while their former owners had their wealths vastly increased, shoring up legacies and titles that last to this day. Others using it to spruce up their towns and cities.
The prosperity of the UK is built on slavery and the bloodiest empire in history. It is time that this is a publicly acknowledged. Taking down the public statues of slave merchants and changing road names should only be the start.
A postscript: we also need to address current injustice. The effects of the racism that built the UK are with us to this day, such as the utterly shameful death by police in Scotland of Sheku Bayoh.
