Maryland Black Lives Matters rally turns to Confederate statue removal and voter registration drive

Protestors turned out en masse for a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Easton, Maryland on Saturday calling for the removal of a Confederate-era statue.

Talbot County Sheriff Joe Gamble estimated that "maybe short of a thousand protesters" were on hand for the two-hour Black Lives Matter-billed event in memory of George Floyd.

Anti-racism chants mingled with Democratic 2020 election rally cries, with some blaming white women for Trump's presidency.

The event was held at the historical Talbot County Courthouse where a statue of former slave and abolitionist Frederic Douglass stands.  Adjacent to that monument is the "Talbot Boys" monument that has the names of 84 Talbot County veterans who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War inscribed on the statue's base.

One petition organizer told Just the News, "This statue must be removed. It symbolizes the racism in this state." When asked if she was from Maryland, she said, "No," and refused to say where she resided.

At the end of the rally, the crowd left their signs at the Talbot Boys statue. One African American man stood in front of the statue holding a sign, "Am I NEXT?" as other Black Lives Matter signs rested against the statue.  One sign attached to the statue read, "Prosecute Killer Cops." 

Organizers moved among the crowd asking protestors to sign the petition that they were going to give to the Talbot County Council for the statue's' removal.  

"Removing the Confederate Talbot Boys statue is a pivotal objective of this event," one protestor told Just the News.  

Another sign read, "Exile the Boys as a Tribute to George Floyd." 

Speakers and the crowd chanted George Floyd's name repeatedly, and as the morning lingered, the chants turned to the 2020 presidential election.

Speakers and the crowd shouted, "Trump Out," and "Andy Harris Out," referring to the Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) who represents Talbot County. 

Organizers encouraged voters to register to vote.  A Talbot Democratic Party table was positioned on an adjoining sidewalk and the democrats were manning a voters' registration table positioned on the courthouse lawn.

A registrar was seated under the tree wearing a bandana on her hat, "I can't breathe," and a T-shirt, "Ask me how to register to vote."

Earlier in the week, there were rumors that buses would be arriving with out-of-towners. No buses arrived, but there were plenty of license plates from Washington, D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado, and even as far as away as California. 

Chanting, "I can't breathe" and "Hands up, don't shoot," the crowd dropped to their knees in a moment of silence in memory of Floyd for the same amount of time that Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kept his knees on Floyd's neck on May 25. 

One white woman took to the microphone shouting that Trump won in 2016 because of white women, and they needed to do their part in 2020 to remove Trump.  

Another white woman told the crowd to have those "difficult conversations" with your "inner circle" to demand change. 

An African American woman called on those who were religious to help organize within their places of worship, where "the entire community is most segregated in their churches." 

Although the event was "nice and peaceful," says, Gamble, it was not without some disruption.

Before the event officially began, a black truck drove down the still-opened street with a Trump flag hanging outside the back window. 

Protestors followed the truck, grabbed the flag and tore it up.  At that point, the police closed off both ends of the road in front of the courthouse.