The “Talbot Boy Statue Speech“
Devon Beck • August 3, 2021
Growing up in Easton and attending UMES, rapper Devon Beck is a local hero and was the main speaker at the Juneteenth rally to Move the Talbot Boys Monument. He spoke for 20 minutes, frequently interrupted by clapping and shouts of approval. Try to read Beck’s speech as if you were part of that enthusiastic and appreciative crowd listening to him on June 19.
When I was asked to speak at this rally, I was honored to lend my voice to this movement — this cause. Writing this speech led to me researching, reading Facebook posts and comments — and we all know what kind of rabbit hole that can be!
But who am I to complain when my ancestors and those who came before me laid their lives on the line so I can stand here today and deliver this speech?
This statue [looks and points at it] is a symbol of hate.
It’s fair to say Dixie has left a huge imprint on the United States. It was defeated militarily during the Civil War but not defeated politically because the white supremacist ideals were not defeated. Dixie often gets a pass because they lost the war but refused to surrender.
From here, you had Northern politicians who catered to the South. Even if you had ideas of fairness, not even equality — that Black people were human beings — at the same time you needed to win the South to be elected, you had to step lightly around the Southerners.
This is exactly how I view this particular statue. Certain political powers that be know that this is wrong, but don’t want to be ostracized by their political peers.
If you look at the foundation of this country — the economic system it built, the social systems it set up — it was all about keeping somebody at the bottom. And here's a convenient bunch of people to do it [again points to statue].
Racism is in the soil of this nation. It’s in each and every stitch of those flags, American and Confederate. The Maryland state song has been removed because it’s racist, yet we still sing the Star-Spangled Banner.
Amiri Barka said, “You know it’s hard to be Black in a world controlled by White folks.” W.E.B. Dubois said we always have a double consciousness. We’re trying to be Black. But meanwhile a White ghost hovers overhead saying if you don’t do this, you’ll get killed. If you don’t do this, you won’t get any money. If you don’t do this, nobody will think you’re beautiful. If you don’t do this, nobody will think you’re smart. That’s the White ghost talking.
One of the reasons that America became such an advanced country was not only because of slavery, but also the slave trade. Slavery was financed in New York, in Newport, Rhode Island, and Boston. It’s also one of the reasons that Wall Street was created.
The rise of capitalism clearly happened on the backs of slaves. Early on, African Americans and Europeans worked side-by-side as indentured servants anywhere from five to seven years. But in 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led an uprising of 1,000 Black and White workers who demanded democracy, participation in running the colony, and land.
This conflict led to the notion that it was better to keep the poor Whites knowing that they weren’t at the bottom and that no matter how degraded you may be as a White person, you’re still White.
We’re clearly talking 1676, but as I wrote this, I said to myself, ”Wow! This sounds a lot like our former president’s whole political campaign!”
So when I heard the slogan, ”Make America Great Again,” knowing our history, I replied, “Great for who? How free is free?”
The legal discrimination against African Americans that began in the 1600s officially ended in 1964 with the Civil Rights Act. Then it was no longer acceptable to be publicly racist. So racism went underground, maintained in secret meetings and coded language.
You see, when you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.
A simple, but heavy burden was placed on African Americans left with nothing after being freed. Because the Constitution allowed slavery, slavery is without a doubt one of the causes of the problems we have in the country today.
Devon, you ask, what do you mean? We’ve made strides. Black people are no longer slaves. Blacks are free to live wherever they want as long as they work hard and get a proper education. You just want to make everything about race.
My response to that is: What about the harm done by the war on drugs? The crack epidemic? Mass incarceration? Racial profiling? Welfare reform? Voter suppression? And that’s just to name a few. These problems stifle the gains made by African Americans in this country.
We’re still suffering the aftereffects of two powerful regimes that make up much of U.S. history, slavery and Jim Crow.
You see problems in the form of the prison population, in healthcare and life expectancy, in poor income and education. Today we have more African Americans under the criminal justice system than were slaves in 1850. That’s the real crime.
So pardon me if I look at this statue as just another way to preserve the White privilege in this country. The fact that it stands on a courthouse lawn where African Americans are often victims of injustice and made guilty before proven innocent is a travesty in itself. It speaks volumes to see this image before heading into that courtroom.
There are many people who don’t believe in equality, many people who believe there’s a natural order of things, and that Whites belong at the top. To some extent, I would say that we’re still fighting the Civil War and the South is winning.
This country has missed an opportunity to make a real difference on how we treat each other, and at times I’m unsure of how to stop the renewed hate that plagues this country. And even when you’re trying to heal from the aftereffects and talk about moving forward, it’s difficult when you see the images of police brutality, of young men being tased, thrown on the ground, and repeatedly kneed in the ribs. That happened in Ocean City just this week.
You see, we’re constantly reopening wounds of the injustice that surrounds us. We can’t escape it. And yet here we are forced to look at its roots on a public platform.
This statue does more than simply preserve history. This statue is a wound that will never heal as long as it stands on this courthouse lawn.
Where do we go from here? I see that Juneteenth is now an official national holiday. That’s great, but there’s way more to be done. We still need an executive order to stop killing us. We need to do something about policing in this country. As well as dealing with the issue of blocked reparations. So, yes, Juneteenth is something to celebrate, but let’s not lose sight of the massive amount of work that still needs to be done in this country.
I had the pleasure of working at the Talbot County Board of Education. They are open to having difficult conversations about race and how to move forward in this country, which I found to be refreshing and extremely important.
I applaud them for that. In Texas and Ohio, schools will lose funding if they teach children about social injustice and critical race theory. What demographic will you think that will affect? Again, this is a way of silencing and stifling change. But, it’s acceptable to teach about the Confederacy and slavery.
Talbot County, do you want this [gestures to statue] to be a representation of what this county stands for?
Devon Beck is a motivational speaker and hip hop artist. A native of the Eastern Shore, he received his undergraduate degree from UMES. A member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, he credits the organization with helping him to cultivate his leadership skills and a sense of social identity. After completing college, Devon began working in the school system as a teacher and staff person; during this time he started delivering motivational speeches to young people. Following the footsteps of those who came before him, he continues to be outspoken on issues affecting the black community.
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.
Apparently, some people think that the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” is a foregone conclusion, and that the struggle over the budget and Trump’s agenda is over and done. Not true. On Sunday night, the bill — given the alternate name “Big Bad Bullsh*t Bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus — was voted out of the House Budget Committee. The GOP plan is to pass this legislation in the House before Memorial Day. But that’s not the end of it. As Jessica Craven explained in her Chop Wood Carry Water column: “Remember, we have at least six weeks left in this process. The bill has to: Pass the House, Then head to the Senate where it will likely be rewritten almost completely, Then be passed there, Then be brought back to the House for reconciliation, And then, if the House changes that version at all, Go back to the Senate for another vote.” She adds, “Every step of that process is a place for us to kill it.” The bill is over a thousand pages long, and the American people will not get a chance to read it until it has passed the House. But, thanks to 5Calls , we know it includes:
Let's talk about our Eastern Shore Delegation, the representatives who are supposed to fight for our nine Shore counties in Annapolis, and what they actually got up to this session.
For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Democrats have candidates running in all 100 House of Delegates districts — a milestone party leaders and grassroots organizers say reflects rising momentum as President Donald Trump’s second term continues to galvanize opposition.
The 447th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 8. This End of Session Report highlights the work Shore Progress has done to fight for working families and bring real results home to the Shore. Over the 90-day session, lawmakers debated 1,901 bills and passed 878 into law. Shore Progress and members supported legislation that delivers for the Eastern Shore, protecting our environment, expanding access to housing and healthcare, strengthening workers’ rights, and more. Shore Progress Supported Legislation By The Numbers: Over 60 pieces of our backed legislation were passed. Another 15 passed in one Chamber but not the other. Legislation details are below, past the budget section. The 2026 Maryland State Budget How We Got Here: Maryland’s budget problems didn’t start overnight. They began under Governor Larry Hogan. Governor Hogan expanded the state budget yearly but blocked the legislature from moving money around or making common-sense changes. Instead of fixing the structural issues, Hogan used federal covid relief funds to hide the cracks and drained our state’s savings from $5.5 billion to $2.3 billion to boost his image before leaving office. How Trump/Musk Made It Worse: Maryland is facing a new fiscal crisis driven by the Trump–Musk administration, whose trade wars, tariff policies, and deep federal cuts have hit us harder than most, costing the state over 30,000 jobs, shuttering offices, and erasing promised investments. A University of Maryland study estimates Trump’s tariffs alone could cost us $2 billion, and those federal cuts have already added $300 million to our budget deficit. Covid aid gave us a short-term boost and even created a fake surplus under Hogan, but that money is gone, while housing, healthcare, and college prices keep rising. The Trump–Musk White House is only making things worse by slashing funding, gutting services, and eliminating research that Marylanders rely on. How The State Budget Fixes These Issues: This year, Maryland faced a $3 billion budget gap, and the General Assembly fixed it with a smart mix of cuts and fair new revenue, while protecting working families, schools, and health care. The 2025 Budget cuts $1.9 billion ($400 million less than last year) without gutting services people rely on. The General Assembly raised $1.2 billion in fair new revenue, mostly from the wealthiest Marylanders. The Budget ended with a $350 million surplus, plus $2.4 billion saved in the Rainy Day Fund (more than 9% of general fund revenue), which came in $7 million above what the Spending Affordability Committee called for. The budget protects funding for our schools, health care, transit, and public workers. The budget delivers real wins: $800 million more annually for transit and infrastructure, plus $500 million for long-term transportation needs. It invests $9.7 billion in public schools and boosts local education aid by $572.5 million, a 7% increase. If current revenue trends hold, no new taxes will be needed next session. Even better, 94% of Marylanders will see a tax cut or no change, while only the wealthiest 5% will finally pay their fair share. The tax system is smarter now. We’re: Taxing IT and data services like Texas and D.C. do; Raising taxes on cannabis and sports betting, not groceries or medicine; and Letting counties adjust income taxes. The budget also restores critical funding: $122 million for teacher planning $15 million for cancer research $11 million for crime victims $7 million for local business zones, and Continued support for public TV, the arts, and BCCC The budget invests in People with disabilities, with $181 million in services Growing private-sector jobs with $139 million in funding, including $27.5 million for quantum tech, $16 million for the Sunny Day Fund, and $10 million for infrastructure loans. Health care is protected for 1.5 million Marylanders, with $15.6 billion for Medicaid and higher provider pay. Public safety is getting a boost too, with $60 million for victim services, $5.5 million for juvenile services, and $5 million for parole and probation staffing. This budget also tackles climate change with $100 million for clean energy and solar projects, and $200 million in potential ratepayer relief. Public workers get a well-deserved raise, with $200 million in salary increases, including a 1% COLA and ~2.5% raises for union workers. The ultra-wealthy will finally chip in to pay for it: People earning over $750,000 will pay more, Millionaires will pay 6.5%, and Capital gains over $350,000 get a 2% surcharge. Deductions are capped for high earners, but working families can still deduct student loans, medical debt, and donations. This budget is bold, fair, and built to last. That’s why Shore Progress proudly supports it. Click on the arrows below for details in each section.
