When I learned that Talbot Council member Frank Divilio premised his vote against removal of the Talbot Boys statue from the grounds of the courthouse on the need for more time to study the issue, I was, frankly, gobsmacked. The explanation is ridiculous. His vote, notwithstanding his support for the addition of another statue that would depict both Union and Confederate soldiers, was a vote to keep a symbol of White Supremacy, offensive to many Talbot County residents, right where it is. Apparently, the many arguments for immediate removal did not persuade him and the other two Council members who joined him.
At first, I found the delay in removing the statue sad. Justice delayed is justice denied. As long as the Talbot Boys stand vigil in front of the courthouse, how can a black person expect justice inside? Are the county’s judges comfortable with what many citizens, and, more importantly, people in the criminal justice system—arrestees—see as a racist symbol remaining? Where are their voices?
Upon reflection, I am coming to see the light. The statue prompts us to learn history. It teaches us that boys from the county fought for the Confederacy and the right to own slaves. Not the type of history to celebrate, but maybe worthwhile to know even if you don’t need a statue in front of a courthouse to teach it.
Of course, there’s more. The statue represents something beyond just the Civil War. Something more recent. If you dig a little deeper and look into how the statue made its way onto the courthouse grounds, you learn that in 1916 in our county, as well as hundreds of other places, white people wanted to commemorate “The Lost Cause” and celebrate the men who fought for it. What was the benefit in this? Was it to remind African Americans that while the war was over, sympathy for what it stood for was not?
Do you need evidence for the motivation behind the erection of the statue? Read the writings of the racist lawyer, Joseph B. Seth, a leader in the effort to erect the statue. He was unambiguous in revealing his motivation. Seth viewed slavery as a fine institution. In his book, written with his wife, Mary W. Seth, Recollections of a Long Life on the Eastern Shore, Seth writes:
The bulk of the slaves were devoted to their masters and their families, taking great interest in everything concerning them. They considered themselves part of the family and their devotion was so great that they would run any risk to protect them. They considered themselves a part of the family and their devotion was so great that they would run any risk to protect them. The families were equally devoted to the slaves and with the whole Southland had the tenderest affection for the faithful old Mammies and Uncles.
Please note that Council member Peter Lesher, who voted to remove the statue, is aware of Mr. Seth’s contribution to our history. Are the three members of the Council who want the statute to remain? If so, how can they sleep at night?
The history lessons offered by the Talbot Boys do not end in the 20th century. Unfortunately, it is offering new ones, one’s that may haunt future generations of Talbot County residents. Here are two:
As late as 2020, the Council, through its inaction, maintained a symbol of White Supremacy in front of the County Courthouse despite the pleas of citizens to remove it. The message inherent in the Council’s vote is “Black Lives Do Not Matter.”
In 2020, an elected Council member was too cowardly to just admit he wanted to keep the statue and instead claimed more time was needed to study the issue. If he is successful in keeping the statue in place, it teaches the unwholesome lesson that delay can often lead to success. Deferring a vote clearly reflects the hope that “things will calm down” in a few months and that the fight over removing the statue will be over.
Hopefully, outcries and protests over this symbol of racism will continue and force the Council to reconsider their shameful vote. If that doesn’t happen, maybe the Council should allow various groups to erect a few new statues on the Courthouse lawn that might have educational value like the Talbot Boys. How about a statue of Richard Nixon? He signed the bill creating the Environmental Protection Agency, which has done a lot to clean up the bay. How about a statue of Trump (to be erected after he leaves office)? This one could teach children the price of incompetence in responding to a pandemic. If large enough, the pedestal for the statue could include the names of Talbot County residents who died from the pandemic. Given that the worst may be ahead of us, it may have to be a big pedestal. The lesson from the Trump statue would be: Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.
Thank you, Talbot Boys. You got me thinking. Your final lesson to me is how important my vote is. I do not need more time to decide who needs to be voted off the Council.
J.E. Dean of Oxford is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant. For more than 30 years, he advised clients on federal education and social service policy.
Stephen Schaare says
Dear Mr. Dean, I want so badly to be pleasant and respectful with you, and maybe even someday be a friend .You have a good mind, which I admire. I am honest to God a good person,
but , you at times simply do not come across as rational. Just about every time you write I see this obsession with racism, “the Talbot boys”, no justice, etc.,how do these people sleep at night, and of course the obsessive loathing of the duly elected President. You absolutely challenge the premise of good mental health.
We have a system that elects members of the County Council, similar to other elective offices. If these are the people chosen, with the system we approve, what on Earth are we to do other than vote them out? I do not know. Violence is always an option, but not one that has my approval. This is our system, I am very sorry. Do you think I was celebrating the election of the Christ Jesus Obama? No, I was not happy. He was my President, I held my tongue, and awaited the next election.
You suggested that the “bottom line” message of “Talbot Boys” would be that “Black lives don’t matter”. Let me get out my crying towel.
Please, I need an adult response here. Please. What exact message does the daily slaughter of black people by other black people say? Are the elected black leaders of these cities sending the same message? Black lives don’t matter here. Please, you never address this issue. You must know about this bloodletting. Right? Here, please, address this violence. I am begging you do not blame the “Orange Menace”. C’mon, please. I believe Richard Nixon also started Affirmative Action.
Paul Lukas says
Great message.Thank you. I’m so tired of all this racial bull**** pushed by liberal blacks and whites.They don’t realize how detrimental this narrative is to their cause. Do they actually think anyone paying for reparations will ever accept black people. Reparations will turn race relations back one hundred years.
Work hard, obey the laws, raise your children well, honor god and respect others, including police. In return, black people will be better respected and happier.
Stephen Schaare says
Thank you Paul. You broke the silence. I am trying to broaden the discussion with some inconvenient facts.
John Dean says
Mr. Schaare,, Thank you for your concern over my mental health. There is too much in your comment to provide you with a detailed response. Let me share just a few comments: First, the American way is to lobby or petition elected officials. Those in our community raising their voices are trying to get our elected officials to do the right thing. Thus, I hope the debate will continue until the statue is relocated or removed.
Second, please know that black-on-black violence has nothing to do with the issue of whether a symbol of racism should be removed. Many would suggest that if we had more social and economic justice, there would be less violence.
Finally, President Trump has made a large number of racist comments and taken a number of actions that are racist. Thus, I believe that Trump has contributed to racism. In the piece, I blamed him for incompetence and suggested that his lack of leadership has made the impact of the pandemic worse. Over 170,000 are dead. It should have been less. Numbers don’t lie. Look at the US infection and death numbers and ask yourself if Trump should have done things differently.
In any case, thanks for reading the article. And, with the exceptions of your personal attack on me, thanks for the comment.
Stephen Schaare says
Hi Mr. Dean, Thank you for your reply. You stated that the continued presence of the “the talbot boys” sends the message”black lives do not matter” in Easton, MD. I am asking you if black lives matter in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Baltimore, etc. I submit they do not matter in these places due to the acceptance of the wholesale(daily) murders of black people of all ages at the hand of other black people. Easton could become a sister city of these other disgusting locales. Do black lives matter only when the killer is white? I am talking about human beings here, and you simply do not care.
Look, I asked you the original question knowing perfectly well there would be no adult response. You are incapable of addressing the hypocrisy. Might bring your world crashing down.I was taking my very best shot at establishing some credibility for YOU. Just a smidgen. There was no personal insult intended.Because I am stubborn, I must ask just this last time. Mr. Dean, Do black lives matter to you?
Jim Patchett says
You wrote, “I am asking you if black lives matter in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Baltimore, etc. I submit they do not matter in these places due to the acceptance of the wholesale(daily) murders of black people of all ages at the hand of other black people.”
So I checked with the DOJ’s crime statistics section. It turns out that 86 percent of murdered blacks are murdered by other blacks. But 85 percent of murdered whites are murdered by other whites. It’s virtually identical.
So how come you don’t mention “all the white on white violence?” Will you now insist that the Talbot Boys MUST be removed because of all the “wholesale(daily) murders of white people of all ages at the hand of other white people?” Or are you incapable of addressing your own hypocrisy???
Of the 25 most dangerous cities, 76 percent are in red states and only 24 percent are in blue states. In fact, 3 of the 5 most dangerous cities in the USA are in Texas. Of the 22 states with the highest murder rates, 17 are red. All 12 states with the highest burglary rates are red. And of the 25 cities with the lowest rates of violent crime, 62 percent are in blue states and 38 percent are in red states.
Oh. And I lived in Baltimore. And it’s quite nice – not “disgusting.” That’s an insult you cannot utter until you’ve moved to and lived in Baltimore.
Get a life. Or perhaps an education.
John Evans says
Let’s see: “the Christ Jesus Obama”, “Let me get out my crying towel.”, “bloodletting”. And you’re asking for and adult response? I think we all see where you’re coming from.
Stephen Schaare says
Oops, Affirmative Action was instituted by President Kennedy. My bad. No “biggie”, JFK would be a conservative today😃
Gren Whitman says
With his suggestion for “another statue that would depict both Union and Confederate soldiers,” does Talbot County Councilman Frank Divilio honestly believe there is a moral equivalence between, on the one hand, battling to perpetuate human bondage and wreck the U.S. and on the other, fighting to ensure human freedom and preserve our nation?
Or is this just Mr. D. tossing a cynical sop to calcified local racists?
Thank you, J.E. Dean, for your righteous reprimand to those who are stuck in 1859.
And thank you, Spy, for your continuing focus on this Talbot County slapstick.
John Dean says
Thank you for this comment and contributing to this important debate. I hope the debate continues until the statue is removed.
Stephen Schaare says
Hi Gren, So many answers and no solutions. The Court House property is no place for statues, monuments, waterfalls or whatever. Keep the grass cut and the bushes trimmed.
Paul Callahan says
Gren that was the position of the Talbot NAACP in 2015. To have a statue to honor both the confederate and Union soldiers. There is a video of Mr. Black and Mr. Potter saying exactly that to the county council. The link is https://youtu.be/4d5h_RkLltg at around at 22:30 into the video is where they clarify to Mrs Price that their position is to honor confederates and Union soldiers. The video is from the Spy.
The evidence is pretty overwhelming that these men rose due to the occupation and oppression of their homeland – not to preserve some far away plantation owner’s system. But hey – that history doesn’t fit into the political agenda.
There was so much going on against Maryland and her citizens that it really is preposterous for anyone that fully understands this history to believe that these men rose against the Feds for any other reason. Most don’t really understand this history unfortunately and just swallow the talking points given to them.
But don’t take it from me, google Frederick Douglass’s Freedmen’s monument speech and see what he says about the war to end slavery.
Gren Whitman says
‘MOST SHAMEFUL’
“The most shameful tribute to the Lost Cause of the Confederacy that exists in a high-profile public space in the state of Maryland” is how an August 21 editorial in the Baltimore Sun describes the “Talbot Boys” statue in Easton.
Paul Callahan says
I think the majority of a Talbot’s citizens don’t really care about the Baltimore Sun….
I don’t understand all the wailing on this issue when the plan is to have the issue voted on.
It is becoming more and more apparent that maybe there should be no statues at the court house. If historical facts don’t matter and it’s all about how people feel about what justice they may receive based upon the statues present – then their should be no statues whatsoever.
Now I’m a big fan of Frederick and what he did but if anyone feels that the court may not dispense them fair justice because that statue is there then by all the arguments I hear, he should be moved to a museum. Facts don’t matter – it’s all about feelings, it doesn’t matter if they are rational or not.
Of course we can always establish a commission that oversees what thought and feelings are correct and which are not. The commission could also review all publications and opinions for correctness and eliminate Improper books we have in our public library.
Just a thought…
Stephen Schaare says
You cite the Baltimore Sun? They certainly have no bias.