There is little doubt that Richard Potter, the president of the Eastern Shore chapter of the NAACP, has been recently experiencing a certain degree of deja vu.
As one of the first to call for the removal of the Talbot Boys statue from the Talbot County Courthouse Green in 2015, Richard and his organization’s other members finds himself repeating arguments used five years ago as the council once again debates the future of this monument of the Confederacy and its soldiers who died during the Civil War.
In our most recent interview with Richard, he spoke candidly to the Spy about the NAACP’s disappointment in losing this battle in 2015 and his encouragement that 2020 may be the year when the CSA memorial can be peacefully be removed from Talbot County’s center for justice in downtown Easton. Richard also talks about steps moving forward that open up ways to speak openly about systematic racism and what a brighter future might look for people of color on the Eastern Shore.
This video is approximately seven minutes in length. For more information about the NAACP-Eastern Shore Chapter, please go here.
Al DiCenso says
I certainly understand Richard Potter’s viewpoint, and agree with him that in the present enlightened climate the statue does not belong in its present location, especially with the irony of Frederick Douglass peering directly at it. The question I would like to pose to Richard is what does he believe about so many other statues which are being toppled, that have no direct relationship to the confederacy, such as U.S. Grant, T. Roosevelt, and my personal effrontery as being of Italian descent, Christopher Columbus, about whom totally fictitious complaints abound?
Carol Voyles says
Thank you, Richard, for your timely and ongoing efforts and leadership.