“It’s quite insulting,” Groups respond to Talbot County filing motion to dismiss lawsuit to relocate statue

EASTON, Md.- The battle to get Talbot’s Confederate Monument relocated from the courthouse lawn continues.

Organizations, like Maryland Office of the Public Defender and Talbot County NAACP, filed a lawsuit against the county to remove the statue, and not too long ago Talbot County filed a motion to dismiss.

“The motion to dismiss claimed in large part that we had not, we didn’t have standing to say that the statue should be moved because we hadn’t been harmed in anyways,” Kisha Petticolas, Assistant Public Defender in Talbot County, said.

An answer was filed this past weekend to that motion, reiterating how they feel having to walk past a statue that they say celebrates the confederacy and glorifies slavery.

“To say that that statue doesn’t harm me in anyway as a black woman, a black attorney, going into the court house with black clients who cant afford an attorney, it’s quite insulting,” Petticolas said.

“The harm can be done psychological, so just because there’s no physical harm that people can see there is harm being done,” Richard Potter, Talbot County Branch NAACP President, said.

And they said while the county may not feel they have the standing to say that the statue should be moved, they will continue to make their voices heard and be open to conversation.

“If we are going to forward as one community, we need to have dialogue,” Potter said.

“We are hopeful that the county and council will do the right thing and that we won’t even get into court,” Petticolas said.

The Talbot County council has repeatedly voted against removing the Confederate monument, the last vote in August of 2020 was 3 to 2.