Replace the statue of Roger Taney with Frederick Douglass
Remove the statue of former Supreme Court justice, Roger Taney and replace it with a statue of Frederick Douglass
Former Supreme Court Justice, Roger Taney, wrote the decision, Dred Scott v. Sanford, that stated that black people "…had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."
The statue of the most notoriously racist Supreme Court Justice in American history was placed at the front door of the Maryland state capital in 1872 to send a political message.
It is time to remove the Taney monument from the state house, and instead, replace it with one of Frederick Douglass, a Marylander who lived during the same times but was forward-looking in his values and vision for an America that was equitable to all.
Governor Hogan has suggested that the Taney monument is equivalent to the monument of Justice Thurgood Marshall that sits across the street from the state house. The equivalency he draws between the two is an affront to our state’s values and highest ideals.
In contrast to Taney, Frederick Douglass was the most photographed American of the 19th Century because like Marshall he championed the rights of all Americans. He fought for women’s rights, worker’s rights, and racial equality.
He also represents the interwoven history of our state’s past and future. He was the son of a slave and a slave owner. He toiled as a bricklayer and a banker, an abolitionist, a lawman, and a leader in the civil rights movement.
While the Taney monument represents the worst of America, it’s made of good metal than can be repurposed, cast of the same bronze, in Douglass’ image, just in time for the bicentennial of his birth in 2018.
Demand that the Roger Taney statue be replaced by one of Frederick Douglass.
