Editor’s note: This article has been updated since its original publication. The public hearing for Resolution 290 is 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, at the Easton High School Auditorium.
The question of the “Talbot Boys” statue and issues concerning diversity created unusual contention among county council members at Tuesday night’s meeting.
The Talbot County Council considered two proposals concerning the monument and statue to Confederate soldiers on the courthouse grounds; two administrative resolutions regarding diversity; and a request to send a letter supporting federal legislation on police accountability and training.
Council President Corey Pack sought most of those measures, noting he had changed his mind on the statue, which he voted to retain four years ago.
Pack has proposed removing the statue but keeping its base, which names county residents who had served in the armed forces of the Confederate States of America — including some who moved to Talbot after the Civil War, also known as the War of the Rebellion.
Resolution 290 would require the removal of the Talbot Boys statue and would prohibit any statues depicting persons, signs, or symbols associated with military action on Talbot County property.
Councilman Pete Lesher joined Pack in introducing the resolution, but noted he would seek to amend it to include the removal of the base as well.
A public hearing on Resolution 290 is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, at the Easton High School auditorium.
Councilman Frank Divilio offered a different approach, one that was slated for discussion only on Tuesday night.
Divilio suggested a unity statue that would list the names of Union and rebel soldiers from Talbot County, with a statue depicting soldiers from each side.
His proposal is modeled after the Civil War monument in Chestertown, which lists the names of soldiers from both sides, and the state of Maryland monument at Gettysburg, which shows a wounded Union soldier and a wounded rebel soldier helping each other on the battlefield.
Pack also asked fellow council members to consider two administrative resolutions — one to require the development of a diversity statement to include in the county employee handbook and another to require a report from the county manager regarding diversity training for county employees.
Both resolutions refer to the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department and said Floyd’s death “has prompted important conversations across the country about racism and has galvanized support for concrete steps at all levels of government to promote police reform and greater cross-cultural sensitivity.”
No vote was taken Tuesday night on developing a diversity statement after Councilman Pete Lesher’s motion to move the resolution to a vote died for lack of a second.
The council voted 4-1, with Councilwoman Laura Price opposed, to require the diversity training report from the county manager.
A future report will provide additional details.
Gren Whitman says
The proposal for a “unity statue” attempts to avoid moral clarity.
However, there is no moral equivalence between the Confederacy and the United States.
Confederates committed treason against the United States and fought to perpetuate slavery and white supremacy. Unionists fought to preserve the Union under the Constitution and to rid the country of chattel bondage. There is no “unity” here.
As Frederick Douglass famously said, “Whatever else I may forget, I shall never forget the difference between those who fought for liberty and those who fought for slavery.”
Scott Sullivan says
Agreed
Scott Sullivan says
Green Whitman has it exactly right.
John Evans says
Gren Whitman has it exactly right. Divilio, Pack, and Price (who expressed support for Divilio’s proposal) have an opportunity to do the right thing, but instead are attempting to have it both ways. If they oppose removing the statue, say so. Don’t insult our intelligence by claiming that leaving the base or creating a monument with “both sides” depicted is in any way about unity.
Donna von Lipsey says
I have been reading with interest the ongoing controversy regarding the Talbot Boys and now the behavior of Laura Price at the Talbot County Council meeting.
I would like to offer the following points and perspective:
1. Maryland did not join the Confederacy, the Confederate flag is not our flag. Those citizens who fought with the rebels to defend slavery might be honored by their families but have no place at the people’s courthouse. Further, to what purpose was the statue commissioned almost 50 years after the war with private money and during the Jim Crow era?
The Confederacy lost the war,we must stop revising history and move forward.
2. Can you name a civil war in any other country where monuments to the losing side are honored in the public square? You will not find any honoring South Vietnamese soldiers in Vietnam.
It is a national tragedy that brother fought brother in a bloody war. It seems to me that in our attempt to heal the rift, too many concessions were made to the sensibilities of white southern citizens and contributed to our turning a blind eye to the continued suppression of our black brothers and sisters.
Perhaps Laura Price could open her mind and listen with intent to understand before asking to be understood. We must look beyond our white privilege, open our eyes, our ears and our hearts to our neighbors of color. Yes, changing demographics mean the browning of America. Instead of meeting the inevitable with denial, fear and futilely trying to hold on to the status quo, let us embrace and fulfill the promise of our American constitution: All men are created equal. Let’s make this an Independence Day for all of us.