When the City of London Corporation launched a project called Revealing the City’s Past, it was framed as a step toward truth—adding new plaques to statues of prominent figures who profited from the transatlantic slave trade.
However, through the lens of truth, this is less about revelation and repentance, and more about revising narrative control and excusing pride.
Rather than removing the towering idolizing tribute statues to slave-traders like William Beckford and John Cass, the City of London opted to leave them standing. The same men who built their wealth through the buying and selling of our ancestors are still honored in stone—now with small disclaimers added at the base. It’s as if, by placing a label on the idol, the offense made right.
This isn’t repentance. It’s performance.
They call it contextualization. But let’s be honest: they’re polishing the chains while the people who wore them still cry out. They’re reinterpreting history in a way that protects their legacy & power while pretending to confront it.
Another reason why I love Torah, The Most High YAH’s instructions tell us everything, even how we are to handle wicked idolatry:
“Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire…”
— Deuteronomy 7:5
YAH didn’t tell us to “contextualize” the idols—He told us to destroy them. To purge wickedness, we don’t put plaques on it, we tear it down. We cut down every high place that honors the unrepentant.
But instead, these statues remain. Standing. Funded. Guarded. Honored. Now plaques are displayed like peace offerings—while no real justice or restoration is given. Not land. Not wealth. Not truth. Not even honest repentance.
This isn’t new for us; we have received insincere care and concern from our own and others for generations.
“They offer superficial treatments for My people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace.”
— Jeremiah 6:14
They recognize & explain their evil & harm, but choose not to repair. They acknowledge the theft, but refuse to return what was stolen. And of course reparations for us are out of the question, no matter how many other people receive financial repair.
And this too is prophecy fulfilled.
“Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side— leaders whose decrees permit injustice? They gang up against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But YAH is my fortress; my Elohim is the mighty rock where I hide. YAH will turn the sins of evil people back on them. He will destroy them for their sins. YAH our Elohim will destroy them.”
— Psalm 94:20–23
This moment is not about plaques. It’s about pride. It’s about power. And it reminds the children of YAH that we are still in the lands of our captivity—still watching the nations profit off the backs of our ancestors, while offering words instead of justice.
But many of us are no longer asleep. We are awakening from the blinding slumber we were in.
We see what the nations are doing. And more importantly, YAH sees. YAH remembers. And He is not mocked.
Let us not be fooled by their “well-worded” plaques and initiatives. Let us stay obediently rooted in YAH’s Torah, faithful in our true belief in Yahoshua, and steadfast in the hope of what’s to come. Because our redemption is not in their plaques or their platforms—it’s in the promise of YAH.
“Here is the patience of the set-apart ones (saints): here are they that keep the commandments of Elohim, and the faith of Yahoshua.”
— Revelation 14:12
“If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who brings into captivity shall go into captivity, he who kills with the sword has to be killed with the sword. Here is the endurance and the belief of the set-apart ones (saints).”
— Revelation 13:9-10
Until next time, shalom ✌🏾
~Yahrahn
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