Many people in Baltimore woke to a surprise Wednesday morning: Their city removed all its Confederate monuments in the dead of night.
Workers load statues of Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson onto the bed of a truck. Photo by Alec MacGillis/AFP/Getty Images.
Four monuments honoring the spirit of the confederacy — one of Robert E. Lee, another of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument, and the Roger B. Taney Monument — were gone by 5:30 a.m., the Baltimore Sun reported.
As word of the statues' removal got out in the early hours of the morning, the mood in Baltimore turned jubilant.
Students gather to take photos where a Confederate monument once stood. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.
It wasn't just locals celebrating the news though.
The powerful images made waves online early Wednesday morning, as thousands applauded the long-overdue decision.
“It’s done,” said Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh.
The city council voted on Monday to remove the statues, The New York Times reported — but the speed at which it happened surprised many. And that was intentional.
“They needed to come down," Pugh explained of the quiet overnight operation. "My concern is for the safety and security of our people. We moved as quickly as we could.”
The events on Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Virginia — as well as President Trump's response to those events — no doubt pushed Baltimore to move fast.
"Trump accomplishment: the removal of Jackson and Lee after nearly 70 years in Baltimore," ProPublica's Alec MacGillis, a journalist who captured much of the removal in real time, wrote on Twitter.
An accomplishment, to be clear, Trump probably isn't too excited about.
The president was met with a fury of criticism blasting his statements in the wake of the Charlottesville terrorist attack, when an alleged white supremacist plowed his car through a crowd of anti-Nazi protesters, killing one woman and injuring at least 19 others.
Trump's first response was to blame "many sides" — not the white supremacists or neo-Nazis — for the violence. After coming forward with a scripted response on Monday, Aug. 14, more explicitly denouncing racism, the president then fielded questions at a head-spinning press conference at Trump Tower on Tuesday, Aug. 15. There, he seemingly backtracked on the previous day's remarks, defending the white supremacists in Virginia and railing against advocates demanding Confederate monuments be removed from public spaces.
Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.
"I wonder: Is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after?" Trump said of the monument removal. "You know, you really do have to ask yourself — where does it stop?"
Well, certainly not in Baltimore.
Trump may be fighting a losing battle in his defense of Confederate monuments, as a push to remove such statues gains steam across the South.
White supremacists rallied in Charlottesville over the college town's decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. In the wake of Saturday's violence, the mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, wants to follow suit. Similar initiatives are taking shape in Dallas, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Jacksonville, Florida, Reuters reported. In May, New Orleans removed its final Confederate monument.
A worker measures the Jefferson Davis monument in New Orleans in May. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.
Removing statues can't fully remove the stains of slavery, of course, nor does it stomp out modern day white supremacy — the kind on display over the weekend, under the guise of "alt-right" or "white nationalist" labels.
But it's a symbolic gesture that reflects a very real desire to do better.
"It's major in its own right, but it's small when it comes to the bigger battle," said Derek Bowden, a photographer on the scene last night in Baltimore. "It's a bigger battle. This is a small victory."
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."