Letter to the Editor: Confederate statues on the run
I continue to be baffled by the late night romp of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh to purge downtown Baltimore of a few lonesome Confederate statues. On a scale of 1 to 10 of the things that need fixing in Baltimore, using precious tax dollars to abscond with some old forgotten relics of the past has to rate a minus 5.
With a public school system still ranked the worst in Maryland; ever increasing unemployment (unless you are an illegal immigrant) and middle class flight to greener suburbs; the implosion of the Under Armor south Baltimore business park vision; and a black on black murder rate that is giving Chicago a run for the money, doesn’t Pugh have better things to do with her limited time in office?
Is Mayor Pugh taking suggestions for replacement statues now that her strategy has cleared much needed glorification space? I would recommend a statue for former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a true leader who had the lebensraum foresight to allow black Baltimore rioters the needed space to trash and burn their own neighborhoods. Who needs Confederates when there are so many statue worthy Baltimore political heroes.
Brad Botwin
Director, Help Save Maryland.org
Rockville, MD
Brad Bowin is the director of of Help Save Maryland.
As a native Mississippian, I frequently get asked my opinion on the removal of the Confederate statues from public land, and I have heard all the usual arguments on both sides. At long last, I have have distilled my thoughts into a brief statement.
1. It is not possible for me to decide what is offensive to others, no matter how inoffensive something is to me.
2. I love sculpture, especially that of historic themes. I try to imagine a beautiful statue with historic theme sitting on public land–but it is a statue of Adolph Hitler. Would we be having this conversation then? Would it be defensible as great art or as our shared history, or would the revulsion toward the individual subject make it unthinkable to put it on taxpayer-supported public land? As a native Southerner, even I can see that the African-American taxpayers of Baltimore see this as the same thing. The statues need to leave public land.