To our fine neighbors who revere their Confederate soldier ancestors: We wish to take nothing away from the honor you feel, we feel the same way about ours. And some of us have relatives on both sides. It is human and respectful of the dead.
Fifty years ago I was a volunteer in a controversial war myself. Just like the Civil War, we were recruited and lied to by powerful old white guys. We were not heroes. We were mostly 18 and 19 year old cannon fodder. You may think of your statue as wonderful, but it carries entitlement and an ugly knee-on-the-neck message to our other friends and neighbors. Please acknowledge just a little of this and help us move it anywhere else. It can be done cooperatively and with honor for all, or it can be taken down and just hauled away. Your call.
Jim Crow and everything about it is one race treating another race like dirt. Tulsa, lynchings, dragging and slaughters are visible and awful enough. Financial abuse, redlining, highways dividing or destroying poor neighborhoods are just as demeaning, insulting and inhuman.
But even today it gets a “that’s too bad” or a shrug and “that’s the way it is”. Haven’t you had enough?
With all of this long history, both over the last 155 years and today, quietly as well as violently, certain people have made life for former slaves and their families an existence of a quiet and/or violent hell. I repeat, haven’t you had enough?
Come on County Council, be true leaders and do what is right, and stop looking over your shoulder to hear who is right.
Move It Now, please.
Totch Hartge
Easton (Maryland born)
Keith Alan Watts, Esq. says
Momentum
* * * *
Do you feel It?
A ripple
On the waters.
Barely noticed,
In sunlight pale.
Voices crying out.
A chorus finally heard.
Make It go away.
The Pain.
For there are none now living,
From 1916,
Or 1865,
Or 1619,
Who remember,
First hand. Yet, It lingers.
The Pain.
Dead, cold weight of irons.
Chafing shackles.
Noiseless screams.
Of Terror by day.
And Night.
Backbreaking work,
Under the burning sun,
No respite.
Little Sleep.
Then,
A Lifetime of Repeat.
Of Pain.
My Mother once shook the hand,
Of someone
Who shook the hand
Of Abraham Lincoln.
Two degrees of separation,
From Emancipation.
What would Lincoln do? Now?
Remove The Pain.
No degrees of separation,
From Brothers and Sisters,
With no chance
To be Free.
From The Pain.
Rigged from the outset,
Playing fields tilted.
No life or love
In a space, safe.
No place,
So many take
For granted.
From The Pain.
To Those whose Fingers
Still press ever intently,
Press “Just So”,
In the name of false narratives and “history”
On the scale of Blind Justice.
Time for The Pain
To Finally Go . . . .
* * * *
Stephen Schaare says
Mr. Watts, You can remove the pain. Forever.
The dead flies lay mute.
Go remove the statue today. Now. No more suffering. No more sleepless nights.
Take it down. Today.
Dick Deetin says
Thank you for an excellent letter.
Bob Parker says
One can hear the pain in Mr. Hartage’s, the pain of one whose ancestors suffered under an unjust system. While keeping the Talbot Boys in it’s present location on the courthouse grounds may feed the pride of some, this is more than matched by the pain felt by others. The Talbot County Council has the opportunity to ease the pain and to promote the healing by moving the Talbot Boys statue to a more appropriate location.
Phil Sayre says
So we’ll said. It’s hard to know what to add, except to reiterate the point that it’s time for the Talbot County Council to step up with some leadership. You’ve had plenty of time to hear from — and listen to — our fellow citizens speaking on both sides of this issue. Surely you should understand how powerful a symbol the Confederate flag is. Do you really want that symbol of racism and white supremacy to be your legacy? Sometimes it falls to political leaders to rise to the occasion. This moment is yours, Council members. Please, the time is now!
Thank you,
Phil Sayre
Claiborne, MD
carol Voyles says
Lovely, almost poetic, but so much more importantly, true.
Eva M. Smorzaniuk, MD says
Thank you Mr. Hartge for the perspective you bring to this moral issue. Agree with your assessment that we need our county council members to act as leaders and demonstrate the integrity that knows the difference between right and wrong. In order to preserve Talbot County history, we must acknowledge both the facts and and the mythology of our history. Though remembering the evil is as important as remembering the good, paying homage to the hateful should not be a part of our community.
Anne Cole Johnston says
Thank you Totch Hartge for inspiring these thoughtful replies.
For a historical perspective of “The Talbot Boys” monument, I highly recommend an article by Easton native, Casey Cep, that appeared in the September 12, 2020 issue of The New Yorker.
Keith Alan Watts, Esq. says
Ms. Johnson is “spot on” indeed. Most excellent.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/my-local-confederate-monument/amp
Christine DuFour says
So moving and so true.
Thomas Malone says
Right on!