What do you do with very large and controversial statues no one wants? That's the dilemma faced by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake following a city commission recommendation to remove two statues — one of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, and one of Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, who authored the infamous Dred Scott decision — from city land.
"She wants to find an appropriate place for those monuments, if she decides to go ahead and remove them," said Rawlings-Blake's spokesman, Anthony McCarthy. "It hasn't been as easy, to be honest, as we thought."
In fact, the city has been quietly contacting "Confederate groups" to ask if they would like to buy the statues, The Wall Street Journal reports, but so far the organizations have balked either at the cost or the idea of helping to remove the memorials from public space. The commission recommended transferring the statues to a national park such as a Civil War battlefield, but it turns out parks aren't allowed to accept the statues unless they were previously "removed from the park and are necessary to achieve the park purpose or authorized legislation."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In the meantime, Rawlings-Blake has ordered new signage for both statues, as well as two other Confederate monuments the commission decided to keep, to explain their historical context.
-
Is the ceasefire in Gaza really working?Today's Big Question Neither Israel and Hamas has an interest in a full return to hostilities but ‘brutally simple arithmetic’ in region may scupper peace plan long-term
-
Are boomers the real phone addicts?In The Spotlight There’s an ‘explosion in screentime’ among older people – and they’re more vulnerable to misinformation
-
West End Girl: a ‘tremendously touching’ break-up albumThe Week Recommends Lily Allen’s unfiltered new work is ‘littered with relatable moments’
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
