... The original plaque was of its time - applauding Colston for his philanthropy, and not mentioning what was perceived then as a perfectly legitimate method of acquiring the wealth he was kind enough to spread around the city.
The second, in my view, inappropriately labours the point about his link with slavery, which as I have pointed out, would be far better explained with proper context in the confines of a museum.
The third one is simply woke PC self-pitying flagellation, pretending to apologise for things that happened hundreds of years ago.
There is a world of difference between accepting history as it was, and a lot of it is hard to appreciate now, and trying to look good by supposedly saying 'sorry, although to whom is not made clear.
History is about context, and understanding, and looking at events from the point of view of the time they occurred.
Trying to place modern values and attitudes on people from centuries ago is a singularly pointless exercise, undertaken for the simple and equally pointless notion of aggrandaising the apologists who simply wish to underline their own self-perceived moral superiority by simply being shocked at how horrible life was in times gone by.
Everyone with an ounce of humanity and common sense will recognise that slavery was an evil of its time, but trying to pretend either that it did not happen, or that it did and we must atone for it, is doubly pointless.
History is what got us to where we are now.
If we recognise where we have have been, and the mistakes we made, we stand a chance of not simply repeating them.
Airbrushing the bits of history that supposedly make us ashamed is defeating the learning of lessons that will make us a better society moving forward.