Doing the right thing (MD's 'Talbot Boys')
Posted: Sunday, November 8, 2015 4:33 pm
By RICHARD CALKINS
... Those opposing removal continually point to the Frederick Douglass memorial as a “balance” to the Talbot Boys, including some on the council. The Douglass memorial was never meant to be an excuse for not removing the Talbot Boys from government property. Both memorials exist in isolation — the Douglass memorial celebrating the hope and achievements of Talbot County’s most famous citizen, rising from slavery to become one of America’s great stories. The Talbot Boys standard bearer is wrapped in and clutching a Confederate flag, a symbol that has historically been used by white supremacists, segregationists and most recently, mass murderers in Charleston and Chattanooga.
... I am taken aback by the amount of revisionist history I’ve heard to justify the Talbot Boys. To hear the Save the Talbot Boys organization, the Civil War was fought over state’s rights, and slavery was not an important issue. In truth, the seven states that seceded filed documents of secession, all of which mentioned slavery (an average of 30 times per document) as the primary reason. In their version of “history,” there is no mention of segregation, bigotry, white supremacy and brutality that were clearly present in the plantation economy in the South and parts of Maryland that supported the Confederacy ...
... Virtually everyone wants the Talbot Boys to be preserved (Save the Talbot Boys from what?) but removed from government property ...
I .. hope that the county council will summon the courage to do the right thing.
http://www.stardem.com/opinion/columns/article_83abe03c-876d-5a73-898a-4d99ea342e84.html
