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Taney Statue at Maryland State House in Annapolis, MD removed.

K

KSweeley

Member
Shortly after midnight, Friday August 18th, work crews began removing the statue of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney from the Maryland State House grounds in Annapolis Maryland.

sKCGydg.jpg


According to the Washington Post, Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D) actually defended Taney and wanted his statue to remain at the Maryland State House: https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...a21a8e006ab_story.html?utm_term=.d8f33b067eb2

Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) is lashing out at Gov. Larry Hogan (R) for not holding a public hearing before advancing plans to remove a controversial State House statue of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney, who defended slavery in the landmark 1857 Dred Scott decision.

His ruling said blacks, whether slaves or not, could never be U.S. citizens.

In a letter to the governor, Miller defended Taney’s legacy and said the memorial should stay put to help educate people about the past. He also criticized Hogan for pushing a vote on the matter “outside the public eye.”

Hogan is chair of the State House Trust board, which on Wednesday voted by email — its traditional method — to remove the Taney statue and make plans for storing or relocating it.

Miller, House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and Maryland Historical Trust chair Charles L. Edson are also members of the panel.

Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer said Thursday that Miller is “completely within his right to continue defending Roger Taney,” but added that Hogan and the Senate president would have to “agree to disagree.”

Busch called for removal of the statue on Monday, saying that “the time has come for Taney to come down.” A spokeswoman for his office said the speaker’s decision was influenced by Saturday’s deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville and the racially motivated 2015 mass shooting at an African American church in Charleston, S.C.

Hogan announced on Tuesday that he would take action to remove the monument, saying it’s “the right thing to do.”

Busch, Edson and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford (R), who serves as Hogan’s designee on the board, voted in favor of taking down the monument. Miller did not vote.

The Senate president said in his letter that voting by email was “just plain wrong” and that the matter was “of such consequence that the transparency of a public meeting and public conversation should have occurred.”
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Baltimore Sun article that has pictures of the removal of the Taney statue: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-taney-statue-removed-20170818-story.html
 
M

MarionCB

Member
Statues and monuments have no educational value whatsoever. They symbolise in public what the community celebrates and exalts.

There is only one reason to celebrate someone like Taney and that is racism.
 
K

Kitsunebaby

Member
About damn time. I'm sure Hogan's just concerned about reelection, but I'm still glad I never have to see it again.

Now the most visible statues downtown will be from the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial at the docks.
 
J

JettDash

Junior Member
Surprised it is a Republican governor in favor of removing it and the Democratic Senate President against it.
 
K

KSweeley

Member
Luminaire said:
They allowed a fucking >>>>>STATUE<<<<< of this piece of shit?
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Yep and unfortunately one was in Baltimore City until recently: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-taney-statue-removed-20170818-story.html

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh ordered middle-of-the-night removals of four monuments in the city this week: one of Taney, another of Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, a Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument and a Confederate Women’s Monument. The Democratic mayor’s decision came a year and a half after a city panel recommended that the monuments be moved or altered to add more historical context.

The Baltimore monuments were stored under tarps in a city lot under police protection.
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R

RoyaleDuke

Banned
The fact we had a fucking statue dedicated to the guy who fucked over Dred Scott, shouldn't surprise me but it does.

Like...goddamn we fucked up Reconstruction as a nation so fucking bad, allowed this shit to fester.

At least we can get rid of their monuments, now get rid of that shit on the side of Stone Mountain.
 
F

Fulminator

Member
As it should be. Dunno how you could argue history for this one... Keep it in the books, we don't need a statue of this guy
 
S

SpaceCadetKeon

Banned
If anything, I'm learning more about this country's history from the removal of these statues. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who ruled against Dred Scott? Get that shit outta here.
 
P

Previous

check out my new Swatch
JettDash said:
Surprised it is a Republican governor in favor of removing it and the Democratic Senate President against it.
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I can't easily find the exact numbers for his senate district or even a reliable map, but it includes most of Calvert County, which is 83% white and only 13% African American according to wikipedia.

Hogan needs the liberal Baltimore/DC suburb voters to get reelected in 2018.
 
M

MisterShine

Member
The time to carefully measure and consider how to 'appropriately' deal with these statues is long since passed. Take 'em down. If there's a historical site or museum ready and willing to take them and frame them appropriately, great. Otherwise they can be scrap.
 
A

antonz

Member
Taney was such a shitty man but its not surprising when you realize he and Andrew Jackson were so close ideology wise.

Freed his own slaves but refused to even consider them as deserving of any rights.
 
K

KuroNeeko

Member
I feel like it depends on the way the statue is presented. (I did not read the article posted in the OP, so I apologize if it's posted there.)

If the statue is presented as a "let us never forget or repeat the mistakes of the past" type of memorial, then I'm all for keeping it. Otherwise, if it's just something glorifying this man and the terrible thing he took part in, then we should tear it down and replace it with someone who deserves its more.
 
K

KibblesBits

Member
KuroNeeko said:
I feel like it depends on the way the statue is presented. (I did not read the article posted in the OP, so I apologize if it's posted there.)

If the statue is presented as a "let us never forget or repeat the mistakes of the past" type of memorial, then I'm all for keeping it. Otherwise, if it's just something glorifying this man and the terrible thing he took part in, then we should tear it down and replace it with someone who deserves its more.
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Nah, just take em all down.
 
M

Massive Duck. C.M.

Banned
KuroNeeko said:
I feel like it depends on the way the statue is presented. (I did not read the article posted in the OP, so I apologize if it's posted there.)

If the statue is presented as a "let us never forget or repeat the mistakes of the past" type of memorial, then I'm all for keeping it. Otherwise, if it's just something glorifying this man and the terrible thing he took part in, then we should tear it down and replace it with someone who deserves its more.
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Read

Also, we have books, internet, and people. We don't need statues of racists
 
K

KuroNeeko

Member
KibblesBits said:
Nah, just take em all down.
Click to expand...

Massive Duck said:
Read

Also, we have books, internet, and people. We don't need statues of racists
Click to expand...

No, I agree. Not only should this be taught in school, but children should be encourage to read about it as well. The drawbacks are that those are both active avenues of education: the former requires that schools teach the material, and the latter requires students to read books containing that information.

Looking back at my own education, we learned about the civil war and slavery during elementary school, but it was never touched on again after that. Having it as a statue (or a plaque) just means that it's out there for people to see everyday--which ties back to my original idea. If it is done in a way glorifying the person or their deeds--then tear it down and replace it. If it serves to educate people about the errors of the past then there may be worth in having it remain. Tearing down a statue won't make those errors go away and there are some things that people shouldn't forget.

....or we could just tear them all down and replace them with positive role models. ; )
 
G

GonzoCR

Member
Shame it took what happened in Charlottesville for something to be done about those things, but at least action is finally being taken.
 
A

antonz

Member
Benjamin Robbins Curtis should be put in Taneys place if they want the court case honored so badly. He was one of only 2 Justices who opposed Dred Scott Decision. He resigned from the Supreme Court after the decision by the Majority.
 
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