A coalition of African American organizations in Maryland is calling for the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore to be renamed after it is rebuilt, citing racism in Key’s legacy.
The African American Leadership Council of Anne Arundel County recently passed a unanimous resolution calling for the renaming of two bridges in Maryland, including the Key Bridge, a proposal that Democratic Gov. Wes Moore and Democratic-led leaders He plans to lobby the state legislature. baltimore flag It was first reported Tuesday. The bridge collapsed in late March when a cargo ship collided with a support beam.
The coalition includes groups such as the NAACP branch and the Coalition of 100 Black Women, which honors the late Rep. Palen Mitchell, the first African-American elected to Congress from Maryland. They want to represent and rename the alternative bridge. . As the first black graduate student admitted to the University of Maryland, Mitchell was also a pioneer in the civil rights movement.
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A coalition of African American organizations is pressing Maryland Governor Wes Moore to rename the Francis Scott Key Bridge. (Getty Images)
Asked about the proposal, Moore told Fox News Digital: “We remain focused on providing closure for these families, removing waterways and rebuilding bridges.”
However, the Baltimore Banner reported that Moore told reporters on Monday that he believes conservation efforts will come at a later date.
A spokesperson for the African American Leadership Conference told Fox News Digital: “Public buildings and structures paid for by taxpayers should not be named in honor of people who owned slaves. ” he said.
Baltimore says their problem with keeping the bridge named after Key, the author of the national anthem, stems from his “legacy” being obscured by “accusations of racism”・I wrote the banner paper.
The Banner noted that Mr. Key was a lawyer by trade who purchased enslaved people but also represented some black Marylanders who sued for freedom in court.
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Oil panel portrait (fragment) of Francis Scott Key. It is attributed to Joseph Wood (1778-1830). Collection of the Walters Art Museum. (public domain)
They also quote Key as saying that black Americans are a “unique and inferior race, and every experience has proven them to be the greatest evil to afflict a community,” which is why the Stars and Stripes It has received backlash from the foundation, calling it an “incorrect” quote.
“Racist quotes attributed to Francis Scott Key, author of the lyrics to ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ are being circulated in news articles and blog posts.” written by the foundation “Incorrectly credited as a first-person expression of Key’s attitudes toward race in the United States, this quote suggests that free blacks are “a unique and inferior race, and that every experience is the greatest evil. It has been proven that.” It’s hurting the community. ”
“This quote appears on page 40 of Jefferson Morley’s insightful 2012 book, The August Snowstorm: The City of Washington, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riots of 1835. ,” the foundation continued. “Morley, in turn, cites as his only source a quote in the 1937 biography Francis Scott Key: The Life and Times by Edward S. Delaplane. This is causing confusion as to who is speaking.”
A portion of the damaged and collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge is seen in the Port of Baltimore on Monday, April 1, 2024. (Caitlin Newman/Baltimore Banner, via AP)
Conservatives have previously argued that Keybridge may eventually be rebuilt, citing past efforts to “cancel” the prominent lawyer and poet and news articles that alluded to his “controversial” past. There was speculation on social media that the name could be changed.
“It’s clear that the City of Baltimore has no intention of renaming a new bridge after Francis Scott Key,” said Republican Rep. Mike Collins. Posted in X Responding to bridge collapse.
“So, do you have any guesses as to the name of the new bridge?”
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“When the Francis Scott Key Bridge is rebuilt, how do you feel about there being a huge push to rename it?” Chuck DeBoer, Chief National Initiatives Officer, Texas Public Policy Foundation Posted in X.
Some on social media previously pointed to an Associated Press article that suggested this was the beginning of an attempt to frame the conversation around Key’s past.
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The campaigns of Democratic U.S. Senate nominees David Trone and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks did not respond to requests for comment on the proposal at the time of publication.
The campaign of Republican Maryland Sen. Larry Hogan similarly had no comment on the proposal.
Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume, a former NAACP president whose U.S. House district includes Key Bridges, also did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
