During brief respites from painting the Seventh Squad of the Million Gun Victims March I take time out to attend meetings to offer input on other issues relating to trying to heal Baltimore. One issue that is taking place across the country is what to do about the near 900 large public monuments commemorating either confederate figures or people who lit the fuse that blew up as the Civil War. We have four right here.
One is the Roger Taney statue at the south end of the little park that surrounds the Washington Monument in the Mount Vernon area.
Another is the double equestrian piece of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson perched at the south edge of Wyman Park near the Baltimore Museum of Art.
A third is a monument to confederate women near downtown, but I forget where it is. The fourth I forgot what it is, but it’s the furthest from me.
A public meeting was convened last December 15th by a city committee looking into whether to replace them, and opened the discussion to public input. I’m glad I arrived early because the room was full to standing room only.
As an artist I wondered if the committee might be open to ideas about what to replace these monuments with. I came ready to present a two minute history lesson about Baltimore lawyer Warner T. Mcguinn (1859-1937), who would be a much better figure representing justice than Taney. I got it in under that and fielded some questions.
The real highlight of the meeting was when a middle schooler came up and spoke her piece. She was brilliant. But some of the speakers that came after that started a little volcano in my brain. It showed me a form of white privileged hypocrisy that masquerades as believing in equality but...It’s like eating a pellet of arsenic covered with a thin layer of honey. I’m warning everyone about these “whiticisms” in case anyone else out there chooses to grapple with this.
The speaker was a 13 year old middle school black girl. She quietly strode to the mike with more poise than I will ever have. She narrated her story about what it’s like to live across the street from the Lee/Jackson pair. With well spoken words and a measured restraint she spoke about the feelings she gets whenever she goes out her front door every day only to be confronted by the giant public celebration of two powerful generals whose whole purpose was to keep her and every generation of black Americans trapped as human property forever. Her voice was soft but my heart was flowing with a vivid sense of those feelings. Many others were moved as well.
But not these two ladies of about my age. The first one said that by removing these monuments from the public spaces we’ll forget about the confederacy completely. As an ‘expert’ on the Civil War surely we must allow equal consideration to both sides of what was a sad, but heroic conflict all around. Then she said “ We don’t petition to take down the Billy Holliday monument because she was a drug addict.” That’s a quote. Essentially the argument was although we should acknowledge the flaws of these men, they should remain where they are so they could be used as a teaching moment.
This tactic is called false equivalency. Apparantly dying of drug addiction is the same as committing treason and plunging the land into a civil war. I was so fortunate to take the mike after the first one. Because there was no way on this good earth I could let that pass without challenge. After my express nomination of Warner T Mcguinn to replace the Taney statue I said “ As to comparing Taney to Billy Holliday...Billy Holliday hurt herself badly with her addictions and the few people who truly loved her. But Roger Taney, with one stroke of the pen led his court to not only crush any hope of a dream for millions of people he never met, but lit a fuse that led to the deaths of over half a million fellow human beings. The only death Billy Holliday’s addictions led to was her own tragically early one.”
That might have put a spanner in the works.
The second woman followed me, so there was no chance to rebut her statement now. I’m saving the gist of this for another chance. She actually said that even though her 2 great grandfather fought for the Union, in the name of historical purity the monuments MUST stay where they are. “Because I am an American historian purist and it is vital to keeping our heritage true.”
That’s when my brain hurt and started smouldering. It was like this young girl’s heartfelt true experience doesn’t exist. Her viewpoint doesn’t matter. Her life doesn’t matter. All this balderdash about young people being the future does not apply to her. I’m still angry today.
Which brings me to an explanation of the word “pure” as it applies to Whitespeak. It means that even though so many bad things happened during the slave years, and deep in my subconscious the Civil War was a wrong thing to do, please let me keep this washed and brushed romantic version about the war between North and South. I don’t want to face the truth that the privileges I enjoy today still come out of grinding black people into the dirt just like it did in the past. If I have actually see it I’ll just DIE of shock if my perfect run cocoon is breached. Please leave me alone with my illusions. The first of which is to ignore this kid.
Wait, wait, I know what to do. Maybe if we added a little plaque on the side, or a small statue behind the main ones recognizing the contribution of slaves, or the three Maryland colored regiments, or some inspiring quotes. That way you who actually LIVE near these things every day can take comfort that we do think of your plight from time to time. This proves that we really believe in equality. How’s that for compromise?
No compromises; each monument must be replaced in its entirety. As human values grow so must the public monuments reflect that growth. It’s time to put Taney and the others into a new home, like a Whoops We Were Wrong museum and replace every celebration of treasonists with those figures that expanded human opportunity. I’m not delusional enough to think that public art can SOLVE our basic problems. But art can tweak things a little in the right direction. Baltimoreans who can look to figures that overcame enormous struggles might lighten their hearts just enough to inspire actions for all the rest of us ordinary citizens.
My own parade of painted monuments, the Million Gun Victims March is on display at Liam Flynns Ale House, 22 W. North Ave. in Baltimore through January 4th. I have also succeeded in making the first local TV news appearance last December 8th, the 35th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. Go to wbaltv.com and search Gun Violence Inspires Pigtown Artist…
I finally have a basic website. To see the show and get a fuller explanation go to mgvm1million.net and meet the ever growing army of “marchers”. Next year should see very exciting developments.