Time Maiden

At the podium, she faced a fourth of the crowd. Yet she knew her words will reach everyone, for someone set up speakers on all sides of the Column. The protestors stopped, looking at her, wondering what she was about to do.

Lindsey gulped, then stepped up to the microphone proper. She hoped she didn’t stumble or garbled her message, or vomit, or anything else. She hoped no one heard her racing heart or peer too closely lest they see her sweat.

Many Baltimoreans have done this, Lindsey thought. Many Baltimoreans have stood in the face of adversity and proclaimed their beliefs. Francis Scott Key, Hattie Carroll, Thurgood Marshall, Helen Ridgely, and so many more stood behind Lindsey. She felt their hands on her shoulder. Into the microphone, and thus the crowd, she said:

“The Column was not always called the Column. It was once called the Washington Monument, in honor of George Washington.”

There were boos from the crowd, but Lindsey ignored them. Boos were nothing but freedom of speech; boos couldn’t hurt her. So, she went on.

“Now George Washington is one of our country’s Founding Fathers, despite what history says otherwise. He was our first president despite what history says. He was our first commander in chief, both during our Revolutionary War and after we adopted the Constitution as our law of our land, despite what history says. We owe a lot to him. Without George Washington, there would be no America.

“What history does say, and is true, is George Washington is also a slave holder. He owned human beings.”

Lindsey took a big gulp. “We know now slavery is inhuman, but in his time, in George Washington’s time, slavery was okay.”

“Slavery isn’t okay!” a protestor shouted.

Lindsey took a scared half-step back, then a full step forward. “We know now, in this day and age, slavery is wrong. It was wrong back in 1776 too! But we as a nation, we as a state, did not view it was wrong. You take a look at our Declaration of Independence, our own Constitution, and you will see slavery there. Slaves and slavers and lawyers and businessmen and slobs and nobodies, they’re all there. But they all stepped up to say in one voice we are free. We have rights. We are Americans.

“When Jefferson wrote ‘All men are created equal’, he meant white males. This was the norm back in 1776. Now, in our day and age, we know he meant all people, all men, all women, of every single race and religion and identity is created equal.

“When Lincoln said these men gave their last full measure at Gettysburg, he meant the Union Army. This was in 1863. Now, in this day and age, we know he means all Americans gave their last full measure so that we could be free.

“When Martin Luther King Junior said he had a dream, it was for blacks. Now, we know his dream was about every little schoolboy and every little schoolgirl living in a world free from hate and discrimination and color.

“All that history, all that past! All those words and documents and bloodshed and wars! It all happened as we as a city, we as a state, we as a nation discovered to know who deserves our rights. We know now it is all Americans who deserves our rights! All! … but if it weren’t for people like the slaves and slavers, the lawyers and businessmen, the slobs and nobodies, even people like George Washington… we wouldn’t be here, now. None of us will, for without those people, without George Washington, slave holder, there would be no America.”

Lindsey paused. Then:

“This monument was originally built to honor George Washington, father of our nation. It was a tribute to the man who saved America, not to his slave-holding ways, not to subjugation, but a man who led America to freedom and who shaped America to what she is today: the land of the free.”

Suddenly, Lindsey blushed, for she ran out of steam. She didn’t know what to say next. Yet the people, the protestors, stared at her as if she still had more.

So, she went on, praying she was guiding the people rightward. “We are also home of the brave. And being brave also means knowing when to go home and think things over. I urge you now to go home, think about what I said. Not just what I said, but what our ancestors, your ancestors, did make America great, and how to best honor their legacy.

“Thank you, Baltimore, and good night!”