NATIONAL SECURITY/RACISM: “Crews quietly removed Baltimore’s Confederate monuments early Wednesday [8-16-17], days after deadly unrest in Charlottesville as white nationalists rallied to defend a statue in that city.
The sudden removal of four statues, without fanfare or advance notice, marks an attempt by Baltimore leaders to avoid a long, bruising conflict that has embroiled Charlottesville and other communities rethinking how they honor figures who fought to preserve slavery.
Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh (D) announced Monday she was in talks with contractors to haul away the statues, and the city council approved a removal plan that night. Some activists had vowed to destroy the monuments before the government could act.
Photos and video on social media Wednesday morning showed crews using cranes to remove statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, then hauling them away on a flatbed truck. Statues honoring Confederate women and Roger B. Taney, the former chief justice who authored the notorious proslavery Dred Scott decision, also were removed.”
-Fenit Nirappil, “Baltimore hauls away four Confederate monuments after overnight removal,” The Washington Post online, Aug. 16, 2017 01:25pm