Dave Wheelan — Page 2

The Talbot Boys Conversation (Redux): NAACP & County Council Begin the Dialogue

June 16, 2020 by Dave Wheelan Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note. On July 30 of 2015, the Spy published the first public conversation between the local NAACP chapter and the Talbot County Council on the organization’s request that the Talbot Boys memorial be removed from the courthouse green. We recorded it with only minor edits to give our readers the full range of views expressed that afternoon.

With civility and calm voices, the leadership of the NAACP of Talbot County met with four out of five Talbot County Council members late yesterday afternoon to discuss the future of the Talbot Boys statue. The memorial on the County’s courthouse lawn commemorates local Confederate soldiers who had lost their lives during the Civil War.

While mutual respect was observed throughout the meeting, there were a few tense moments as the conversation turned to the role played by the statue of Frederick Douglass, the famed native son of Talbot County and abolitionist, located less than a hundred feet from the Talbot Boys display.

Given the depth and complexity of this issue, the Spy has shared most of the meeting’s highlights of the lengthy discussion. The public conversation will be continued with a open community meeting on September 9th. The Spy will publish venue and time when it becomes available.

This video is approximately 35 minutes in length

The Future of the Talbot Boys in 2020 with Council President Corey Pack

June 15, 2020 by Dave Wheelan 2 Comments

Long before the murder of George Floyd last month, the Talbot County Council has been wrestling with the future of the Talbot Boys monument on its courthouse green. Five years ago, in the wake of the Charleston Church Massacre in 2015, the local chapter of the NAACP petitioned Talbot County to remove the confederate statue. And after a considerable public debate, the Council unanimously voted to keep the Talbot Boys with the then Council president, Corey Pack, speaking on its behalf to defend their decision in November of 2015.

Five years later, Corey Pack is still Talbot Council president, but his conviction that the Talbot Boys memorial not be removed has changed dramatically. After much soul-searching after the tragedy in Minneapolis and the growing support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Pack and his current council colleagues will be moving forward with a resolution on June 23, that would remove the sculpture of the confederate soldier from its base. That proposal will open up a process that will once again ask Talbot County citizens for public comment, and Mr. Pack is the first to admit that there is much to say about this compromise solution where the names of those who served in the Confederacy remain in place.

In his Spy interview on Sunday, President Pack outlines the rationale for this proposal, including the belief, based on his own research, that the United States Congress had approved a bill that designated all who served in the Confederacy as United States veterans. That is one of several considerations Pack notes in detailing a deliberate process to reach his conclusion that the Talbot Boys base should remain. Pack also discusses what he is recommending as action steps for Talbot County to be on the forefront of ending racial inequality.

(Editor’s fact check: The U.S. Congress did not designate those who fought for the Confederacy as U.S. veterans. This claim, which began circulating in 2015 after the Charleston Church Massacre, is based on a 1958 law that gave the widows of Confederate veterans a pension benefit. At that time, there were an estimated 1,500 Confederate widows alive; the last known surviving Confederate veteran had died seven years earlier, in 1951.)

This video is approximately twelve minutes in length.

The Talbot Boys Conversation (Redux): Bishop Joel Marcus Johnson

June 14, 2020 by Dave Wheelan 1 Comment

Editor’s Note. On July 25 of 2015, the Spy sat down with Bishop Joel Marcus Johnson, the then co-chair of Talbot Association of Clergy, to talk about his organization’s request that the Talbot Boys be removed from the Talbot County Courthouse green. Almost precisely five years later, the statue remains in place.

In a going series of interviews, both from Spy archives, and the present, we return to our primary mission of community education related to the Talbot Boys statue, including its history and meaning in 2020.

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It seemed inevitable that once Nikki Haley, the very conservative, very Republican, and very dynamic South Carolina governor, announced last June that the Confederate flag should be removed from the statehouse grounds, every other state and town which had any connection to the Civil War would be looking very carefully on how those governments, directly or indirectly, have honored their own Confederate veterans in the tragic war between the states.

This certainly is the case with Talbot County. Over the last few weeks, in letters to the editor, at civic meetings, cocktail parties, and in the coffee houses of Easton and St. Michaels, the community is indeed having a real conversation about the future of the “Talbot Boys,” the memorial which honors the fallen local men who had fought for the South’s secession to preserve slavery, which is located on the front lawn of the historic Talbot County Courthouse.

In preparation of the first public meeting, now scheduled for next Wednesday at 4pm, with the Talbot County Council and local representatives of the NAACP discussing the status of the memorial, and to support what promises to be an important community conversation about race, history, and how we honor the courageous, the Spy starts our own series on the Talbot Boys.

The Spy starts this new project with Anglican Bishop Joel Marcus Johnson Bishop of The Anglican Diocese of The Chesapeake. A local leader in race relations since he arrived on the Eastern Shore twenty-five years ago, Bishop Johnson also currently chairs the Talbot Association of Clergy. Through these special experiences, he shares his perspective on the future of the Talbot Boys.

This video is approximately eight minutes in length

The Talbot Boys Conversation (Redux): Richard Potter

June 11, 2020 by Dave Wheelan Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note. On July 27 of 2015, the Spy sat down with Richard Potter, the president of the NAACP Eastern Shore chapter, to talk about his organization’s request that the Talbot Boys be removed from the Talbot County Courthouse green. Almost precisely five years later, the statue remains in place. We talked to Richard about how he got involved with NAACP and his leadership in their first attempt to take down the Talbot Boys.

If one were looking for examples of a new generation taking on leadership roles in Talbot County, Richard Potter would be a good place to start. The current president of the NAACP’s Easton Chapter was born in 1982. And while his day job is one of being an educator with the Dorchester County School District, his new work, representing an organization formed in 1909 “to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination,” has taken on new meaning as County leaders begin to discuss the future of the Talbot Boys statue now sitting on the County Courthouse lawn.

In his interview with the Spy, Richard talks about the Talbot Boys, what the memorial means in the local African-American community as it stands now, and the generational change of perspective taking place that seriously questions how history is told in public spaces.

This video is approximately eight minutes in length.

After Minneapolis: A Chat with Easton Police Chief Spencer and Deputy Chief Wright

June 8, 2020 by Dave Wheelan Leave a Comment

No matter how much trust a local police force has earned over decades of outreach and training, an incident like the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month can only be seen as a major setback. Communities, particularly those of color, respond to this kind of national tragedy questioning all forms of law enforcement, even those that have been doing the right thing continuously in serving and protecting their towns and counties.

With that in mind, the Spy thought it would be a good time to check in with the region’s top public safety leaders to hear first hand their impressions on the police role in the death of Mr. Floyd, and how they are processing the event and its consequences.

We continue with Easton Chief of Police David Spencer and Deputy Chief Greg Wright.

This video is approximately seven minutes in length. For more information about the Town of Easton Police Department, please go here.

After Minneapolis: A Chat with Talbot County Sheriff Joe Gamble

June 4, 2020 by Dave Wheelan 1 Comment

We begin with Sheriff Joe Gamble of Talbot County.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about the Talbot County Sheriff’s Department, please go here.

The Future of the Liberal Arts with St. John’s College President Peter Kanelos

June 3, 2020 by Dave Wheelan 1 Comment

Peter Kanelos, the president of St. John’s College, makes it clear that he regards his school as essential to the future of higher education. That doesn’t seem to be such a remarkable statement on its own. One could argue that every college president says the same thing about their school. But President Kanelos’ point is still quite bold given that his institution bases its entire curriculum on the reading of the “Great Books” of world culture.

In fact, at a time when students, and their parents, have been conditioned to think of higher education is a necessary gateway to a professional career, Kanelos says that a St. John’s degree may be one of the worst preparations for landing an entry-level position after graduation but also the best education one can receive.

While St. John’s is one of the oldest colleges in America, its mission dramatically changed in the late 1930s when it was hit hard by the Great Depression. Facing low enrollment and limited cash reserves, The college leadership, with the help of a team of academics from the University of Chicago, pivoted from their traditional model and embraced a Great Books program that centered on around 500 great books. By studying these classics, students could build their intellectual muscles far more successfully than a college major program.

It was an audacious move in 1937, and it’s looking like one in 2020.

In the Spy’s first interview with President Kanelos, he talks about this unique approach to education, and how he and his institution are still radically changing the nature of higher education. That includes doing things like reducing tuition by thirty-three percent two years ago or by making a compelling argument that the years of the college major might be over.

This video is approximately twelve minutes in length. For more information about St. John’s College please go here.

Chesapeake Music’s Plan B for its 35th Chamber Music Festival with Don Buxton

June 2, 2020 by Dave Wheelan Leave a Comment

Like many music festivals throughout the United States in the past two months, the Trustees of Chesapeake Musichad to make gut-wrenching decision to cancel its flagship event, its 35th Chamber Music Festival, as the result of COVID-19. It was devastating news for thousands of fans who had made plans to come to Talbot County to enjoy this exceptionally well regarded program this month, but was equally disruptive to the dozens of performers that had planned on this event as part of making a living.

That was the first of many difficult decisions that Chesapeake Music’s executive director and his board had to make in the face of coronavirus crisis. But one thing that came out of those dark moments was the universal consensus that, one way or another, the Chamber Music Festival’s artists would still be heard. And it was at this point that the group agreed with the festival’s co-directors Catherine Cho and Marty Rosen, that a virtual format was in order as a suitable replacement.

Rather than transfer the programming to a Zoom format, Chesapeake Music professionally filmed its performers and would only showcase those concerts for twenty-four hours at a time, but then replaced by the next performance. It all begins on June 4.

The Spy talked to Don about this novel idea, as well as Chesapeake Music’s future, a few days ago.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about the 35th Chamber Music Festival please go here.

COVID-19: Preparing for Phase Two on Main Street with Kay MacIntosh

May 29, 2020 by Dave Wheelan Leave a Comment

Slowly but surely, Mid-Shore main streets are starting the long process of opening up after their two months COVID-19 hibernation. As Maryland begins a multiphase program to re-open its economy, the region’s downtowns are working on final plans on how local merchants can unlock their doors. At the same time, these municipalities are also surveying the collateral damage that the coronavirus crisis had caused to its retail economy.

One person who has been watching this very carefully has been Kay MacIntosh,Executive Director of Main Street Historic Chestertown, one of the town’s primary organizations for promoting tourism and supporting its retail economy. And like many people in his role, Kay sees the seeds of a promising re-opening but maintains a realistic awareness that this is the beginning of a very long road.

The Spy sat down with Kay this morning by Zoom to get an update.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length For more information about Main Street Historic Chestertown please go here.

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