What is a small town or county to do when it is invaded by national pressure groups with unlimited resources? That is the problem faced by Talbot County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, but the ramifications of the question extend nationwide. The target in Talbot County is a memorial located on the grounds of the county courthouse to local men who fought for the Confederacy, comprising a statue and a base with the names of the 84 “Talbot Boys”. There have been sporadic efforts local efforts to remove the statue. One was resolved with a compromise in 2004 to add a statue of Frederick Douglass, who grew up in Talbot County. In 2017 the County Council, under the leadership of its African-American president Corey Pack, voted unanimously to keep the statue. The leader of the local NAACP was never completely satisfied, but the matter lay quiet until last summer.
As in other places, the killing of George Floyd and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter (BLM) in demonstrations and riots across the country had an effect here, only a 90-minute drive from Washington DC and Baltimore.--
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