Saw it Coming: Civil Rights Groups Demand Baltimore Bridge be Re-Named

It’s time to change the names of two bridges in Maryland, according to the Caucus of African American Leaders of Anne Arundel County.  

One bridge is Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. Once the bridge is reconstructed, it must be renamed because of Key’s racist legacy. The bridge collapsed in late March when a cargo ship struck a support beam. Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem. 

The group plans to lobby Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat, and Maryland’s Democrat-controlled General Assembly. 

The consortium of Civil Rights groups includes the NAACP, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and others. It voted to recommend changing the name of the Key Bridge because it honors a man who enslaved African Americans and wrote lyrics that scholars have found “demeaned Black people.”

The caucus is now calling on Gov. Wes Moore and the Maryland General Assembly to rename the bridge after the late U.S. Rep. Parren J. Mitchell, the first African American from Maryland elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

No. This should not happen. Let them honor “the first African American from Maryland elected to the U.S. House of Representatives” another way. A statue in his hometown, an easily accessed memorial marker (he died in 2007), a post office, or some other way is sufficient. There is no reason to change the name of a 47-year-old bridge. 

Activists have been allowed to try to erase American history in the public square for too long. Since the Marxist Black Lives Matter movement began, suddenly statues and memorials to white men who played important roles in American history have to be removed and demonized. It’s crazy. It’s wrong. 

It is important to learn about and recognize all of American history, not just the easier parts of the past. A monument or statue in a community that placed it there can produce discussions. It’s a little history lesson. The same can be said for the name of a bridge. 

A minority of Americans should not dictate which monuments are acceptable and which are not. The same goes for naming a bridge that is used by everyone. 

Governor Moore avoids the conflict by saying he remains “laser-focused on providing closure to these families, clearing the channel, and rebuilding the bridge.” He did tell the Baltimore Banner on Monday that he thinks there will “be a time for that” conversation later. Handled like a true politician. 

The issue with Key is that of accusations of racism. He was an attorney who purchased enslaved people but he also represented some black Marylanders in court who sued for their freedom. 

There is a quote attributed to Key that is refuted by the Star Spangled Banner Foundation. 

They also quote Key as having said Black Americans are “a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community,” which has received pushback as an “erroneous” quote from the Star Spangled Banner Foundation. 

“A racist quote attributed to Francis Scott Key, the author of the lyrics to ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ has been circulating in news articles and blog posts,” the foundation wrote in 2020. “Incorrectly credited to Key as a first-person expression of his attitudes about race in the United States, the quote asserts that free Blacks are “a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community.”

“The quote is taken from page 40 of Jefferson Morley’s generally insightful 2012 book Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835),” the foundation continued. “Morley, in turn, cites as his sole source a quote in the 1937 biography Francis Scott Key: Life and Times by Edward S. Delaplaine. This biography is the source of confusion as to the quote’s speaker.”

So, should the bridge be renamed over that? I don’t think so. There are some Americans who see grievances in everything. They are perpetual victims. They will never be satisfied and demand special treatment.  

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) predicted the easily predicted move by the activists.

Baltimore obviously won’t rename the new bridge after Francis Scott Key again.

So, any guesses on the new bridge name?

— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) March 26, 2024

It’s time that the history revisionists be told no, they may not be allowed to erase American history. Especially in this case when the storyline is confusing.