This is the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me, Kavita Puri.

Each week, one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. On the 7th of June 2020 a large crowd moves towards a bronze statue in Bristol, England.

They carry placards of Black Lives Matter. They stand at the foot of

of Edward Colston, an 18th century slave trader.

A rope is put around him and the crowd pulls.

The statue which is stood for over a hundred years

and whether the controversies is now on the ground.

Demonstrators jump on him.

They dole Colston's face and legs in red and blue paint.

One protester, his knee on the statue's neck, recalling how

African-American George Floyd was killed by a white policeman in America.

That death in Minneapolis inspired protests thousands of miles away here in Bristol. The half-ton's statue is then rolled down the road for nearly half a

kilometer. The crowd then pushes Edward Coulston head first into Bristol Harbour, cheering as he hits the water with a splash.

The protest in reaction to George Floyd's death reverberated across the world and it seemed to coalesce around statues.

So what is it about the power of them and the way they project how

countries reflect on their past? So this week we ask, why do we care about statues?

Part 1, Shadow War. I have ancestors present while in the battle at Gettysburg was taking place.

So it's always been part of my life. Our first expert witness is Sarah Beetham, chair of liberal arts at the Pennsylvania Academy in the Fine Arts.

I have been very interested in the American Civil War pretty much my entire life.

It's hard not to be, I think, if you're an American, it's everywhere all the time.

It's hard to avoid when there are statues commemorating prominent Confederates who fought to keep slavery in the American Civil War.

They lost in 1865, yet decades later, monuments celebrating notable Confederate veterans started.

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