BLM targeting statues and other memorials to Captain James Cook

Black Lives Matter activists are targeting statues and other memorials to Captain James Cook, the great English explorer who charted much of Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, for removal.

The Yorkshireman is one of many great Britons who had made his way on to the sprawling ‘Topple the Racists’ hit-list compiled by the already-out-of-date Stop Trump Coalition. Its targets have previously included the likes of Sir Francis Drake, the English mariner who defeated the Spanish Armada, and Earl Grey, the former prime minister who oversaw the abolition of slavery but is today most famous for the aromatic tea named in his honour.

“James Cook invaded Australia just over 250 years ago. He claimed possession over the entire nation even though it clearly belonged to the people already there,” declared the iconoclasts’ website.

"What followed was 250 of genocidal activities and policies based on race that murdered thousands of women, men and children. Captain Cook symbolises racial oppression and violence… [The statues] must be removed,” they declared.

Memorials targeted for removal or renaming include statues in Whitby and London, the Captain Cook Memorial Museum, the James Cook University Hospital, and a number of stree names and pubs named after the explorer and his ships.