MEMO

To: Municipal Officials in Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, La.
From: An Eastern Shore Friend
Re: A Modest Proposal

Dear Friends:

You recently suffered the loss of your beloved memorial to slavery, the short-lived Confederacy, the so-called Lost Cause, i.e., your heritage of racism and segregation.

‘Twas a statue of a young man, clearly Caucasian, gripping a flag that’s clearly the Stars-and-Bars, and named the “South’s Defenders” (left photo). Reportedly manufactured by the W.H. Mullins Co. of Salem, Ohio, it was dedicated on June 3, 1915 (50 years after Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox). 105 years later, on August 26, 2020, your effigy was toppled by Hurricane Laura.

Pssst, Lake Charles! On public display at the Talbot County courthouse in Easton, Maryland, there just happens to be an EXACT COPY of your wrecked monument. But instead of calling it the “South’s Defenders,” folks here call it the “Talbot Boys” (right photo). (Note: it was dedicated just a year after the “South’s Defenders,” in 1916, and, according to the Maryland Historical Trust, also manufactured by the Mullins Company.)

Compare the photos of the statues and it’s easy to see they’re identical: same face, same lock of hair over forehead, same hat, same flag, same flagpole, same truculent pose, and from the same manufacturer. “South’s Defenders,” meet “Talbot Boys.”

A considerable number of Talbot citizens are aching to have “Talbot Boys” removed ASAP from their courthouse grounds. They consider it racist, a quotidian reminder of slavery and Jim Crow, and an unwanted emblem of the Confederate treason. They don’t care where the statue goes—to the historical society, to a museum, for display in a cemetery, to the county landfill—they just want “Talbot Boys” gone!

This is your big opportunity to replace your “South’s Defenders.” Send a delegation to Talbot County to make an offer to the county commissioners to take it off their hands, say, for simply the cost of its removal. That way, Talbot can get rid of its odious memento of a shameful past and Lake Charles can replace what you consider to be your treasure.

Yours truly, AN EASTERN SHORE FRIEND