I am looking for signatures to encourage the Talbot County Council to remove the Talbot Boys statue from their county courthouse grounds. This journey began months ago and has stalled briefly during the current pandemic. But now, in the face of the racial injustices of today, I believe it is time to push further the agenda to bring this symbol of hatred down. 

The main reason that so many Confederate statues were erected around the United States after the Civil War was to intimidate African-Americans. The people who built these statues targeted racially-charged areas in which to build them for this purpose.

Some may believe that the statues honor soldiers, but their purpose was more sinister. Cemeteries and battlefields are the only appropriate places for such monuments to remember the fallen, and such monuments already exist in Maryland. The people who fought for the Confederacy do not deserve to have their values exemplified and glorified; they deserve to be remembered in a proper place like all other veterans.

A statue on the courthouse grounds stands as a reminder and a confirmation that Talbot County glorifies the reasons these men fought. It is important to remember what the reasons truly were. A speech given by the Vice-President of the Confederacy before the Civil War clearly stated the values of the Confederacy. This highly-publicized speech was heard throughout the country and was even referred to by Fredrick Douglas in his attempt to convey the true reasons that Confederates fought. Alexander Stephens stated, “Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science.”

Is this what Talbot County wants to celebrate? Is this what Talbot County wants to have on its courthouse lawn? A proud banner-holder with the names that fought for the Confederacy sends this clear message: it is the opinion of the county to support the idea of white supremacy. If it is not, then the statue must be removed. 

A link to an article about this fight: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/10/26/hes-one-man-quest-take-down-confederate-monuments-maryland/