Memorial to slave trader is ‘abomination’

Cambridge, United Kingdom: A Cambridge University college on Friday told a court that it wants to remove a memorial to a prominent donor who was a slave trade investor from its chapel, calling it an "abomination".

Jesus College, which is part of the university, this week hosted a rare church court in its chapel as it asked a judge for permission to take down a memorial to Tobias Rustat, a 17th-century slave-trade investor who was a major donor to the college.

The memorial "glorifying the benevolence of a man who was responsible for investing in and directing companies which traded in enslaved people is an abomination," the college´s lawyer Mark Hill told the court.

Justin Gau, a lawyer representing a group of 65 alumni who oppose the plan earlier told the court that Rustat was "being erased", in a reference to contemporary "cancel culture". Hill countered that "Rustat is not being cancelled or erased or destroyed", and the college will display it in another building.