'Bristol could elect Europe's first black mayor'

You point out (Comment, 10 November) that in the Bristol mayoral election tomorrow there are 15 candidates, but there is another story to be told. Bristol can make history. If Labour's Marvin Rees is elected, he will become the first directly elected mayor of African-Caribbean descent, not just in this country, but across Europe.

Symbolically this is a very big deal. Marvin stands before the people of Bristol to represent all its citizens for election to high office, but he could have stood before its citizens some 280 years ago as commercial chattel, or, crudely put, as a slave. From 1730-45 Bristol was the main slave port for Britain. In fact, the prominence and wealth of Bristol owes itself directly to slavery.

Today its institutions and place names reflect that past, from Colston Hall to the Merchant Venturers. Nearly 300 years later, one of the sons of an African enslaved man now stands before Bristolians to be their elected representative. That is a journey of truly historical proportions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/13/bristol-europe-first-black-mayor

Simon Woolley Director, Operation Black Vote, Issan Ghanzi Director, Voice for Change, Ratna Lachman Director, Just West Yorkshire, Dionne Walker