Rockville Historic District Commission Grants County’s Request to Move Confederate Statue (MD)
Majority of speakers defend statue’s location during three-hour meeting Thursday night
BY ANDREW METCALF
Published: 2015.09.18 11:22
Those in favor of keeping a Confederate statue at the Red Brick Courthouse in Rockville invoked Nazi Germany, the Taliban, and Ronald Reagan’s speech at the Berlin Wall on Thursday night to defend why they believe the statue should remain in a grove of trees across from Montgomery County Circuit Court.
A majority of the approximately 20 speakers urged the four-person Rockville Historic District Commission during a three-hour meeting to vote against Montgomery County’s application to move the statue, but despite the strong opposition, the commission approved the application. However, the commission did ask the county to strongly consider keeping the statue in a public place in Rockville, although the county isn’t required to satisfy the request ...
Elbridge James, who spoke on behalf of local, state and national chapters of the NAACP, made an impassioned plea to the commissioners to remove the statue, saying that his son and family have to walk by the statue honoring Confederate soldiers.
“We are stating very clearly that the statue has to go,” James said. “It doesn’t belong on the people’s ground. A history lesson doesn’t start on the courthouse grounds. Those grounds belong to all the people, not just to some” ...
http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2015/Rockville-Historic-District-Commission-Grants-Countys-Request-to-Move-Confederate-Statue/