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Crews in state capital Annapolis hitched straps overnight to the
145-year-old bronze statue outside State House and lifted it
from its base with a crane, according to media reports and
social media postings.
"While we cannot hide from our history – nor should we – the
time has come to make clear the difference between properly
acknowledging our past and glorifying the darkest chapters of
our history," Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said in a statement
on Wednesday.
Chief Justice Roger Taney's landmark 1857 decision said: "The
negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his
benefit." Legal scholars say it is one of the worst decisions in
the Supreme Court's history.
Authorities and protesters have since Saturday removed monuments
in several U.S. cities to the Civil War Confederacy of states
that held slaves, arguing they are inappropriate and offensive.
One person died and others were injured in Charlottesville,
Virginia, on Saturday when a car plowed into people protesting a
demonstration by hundreds of white supremacists who opposed the
removal of a monument.
President Donald Trump decried on Thursday the removal of the
monuments, echoing the views of white nationalists. His comments
drew a rebuke from fellow Republicans in a controversy that has
inflamed racial tensions.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)
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