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U.S. Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.) spent last summer鈥檚 congressional recess focused on notes rather than votes 鈥搈usical notes, that is.
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic several months earlier, Raskin received a call from Elise Bryant, executive director of the D.C. Labor Chorus.
鈥淪he said 鈥榃e would like to ask you to write us a new Maryland song because the political debate is just in a complete deadlock, and we can break it with a song鈥�,鈥� Raskin recalled recently. (The congressman was interviewed weeks before聽聽on Dec. 31.)
Working with Steve Jones, music director of the D.C. Labor Chorus, Raskin 鈥� an avid amateur pianist 鈥� focused on the lyrics, and Jones on the music.聽聽of 鈥淢aryland, My Maryland (The Free State Song)鈥� by Raskin, of Takoma Park, and Jones, of Kensington, debuted last summer at a virtual breakfast of the Maryland delegation to the Democratic National Convention.
As the 2021 session of the Maryland General Assembly gets ready again to debate whether to repeal the controversial 鈥淢aryland, My Maryland鈥� 鈥� composed during the Civil War by a Confederate sympathizer, James Ryder Randall 鈥� as the current state song, Raskin is not the only contender waiting in the wings with a potential replacement.
Jefferson Holland, a 40-year resident of the Annapolis area and a founder of the Eastport Oyster Boys band, had been thinking of composing a new state song since 2015, continually jotting down ideas since for what it should include.
鈥淎bout the fourth of July [in 2020], I suddenly got inspired to say 鈥楬ey, if we start now, maybe by the time the state legislature starts, we鈥檒l have something worth thinking about鈥�,鈥� said Holland.聽聽of 鈥淭hat鈥檚 My Maryland鈥�, for which Holland wrote both the music and lyrics, was released in late summer.
And, with the opening of the General Assembly session next week, a third replacement candidate, 鈥淢aryland Proud (A Place Called Maryland)鈥� 鈥� composed by Wicomico County Councilman Joshua A. Hastings (D) and Salisbury-born, New York City-based singer and songwriter Sarah Bernstein 鈥� has emerged.
Hastings 鈥� who began his college career as a music major before switching to political science and business administration 鈥� has just released聽聽of their meaning. A聽聽of the new composition 鈥� the idea for which first came to Hastings eight years ago during a trip to Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland 鈥� also has been posted. The final version, delayed by pandemic-related constraints, is expected to follow soon.
But while legislators are in a position to listen to all three songs 鈥� and others that may emerge in the coming months 鈥� it鈥檚 going to be at least another year before any of the replacement contenders receive a hearing of the legislative variety.
That鈥檚 because sponsors of the legislation to do away with the current state song 鈥� which has enjoyed that status since 1939 鈥� have decided to go with a straight repeal rather than a 鈥渞epeal and replace鈥� strategy. If the repeal becomes law this winter, it will be up to a future session of the legislature to determine how to select a new state song.
As it convenes during the pandemic, 鈥渢he 2021 legislative session is going to be enormously challenging. There is going to be a focus on only priority issues,鈥� explained the repeal bill鈥檚 sponsor, Sen. Cheryl C. Kagan (D-Montgomery).
鈥淩epealing the state song can fit into a small corner of the list of priorities, only because it鈥檚 so offensive to so many of us because of the racial history,鈥� added Kagan, alluding to the song鈥檚 mention of 鈥淣orthern scum鈥� and its use of 鈥渢yrant鈥� to refer to President Abraham Lincoln. 鈥淗aving said that, I don鈥檛 envision the Senate or House wanting to spend any significant amount of time debating the state song.鈥�
This is the third time that Kagan has sought to move a repeal bill, and both she and House Speaker Pro Tem Sheree Sample-Hughes (D-Lower Shore) 鈥� who is carrying the legislation in that chamber 鈥� expressed optimism that this will be the year, given renewed focus on issues of racial equality in recent months.
鈥淚 am very hopeful that it will be one of the very least controversial bills we have before us. It should set land speed records since there is such widespread consensus that it is abundantly past time to get rid of our embarrassing state song that celebrates Confederate themes,鈥� said Kagan.
鈥淭he University of Maryland Marching Band won鈥檛 play it anymore. At the Preakness, they stopped playing it. We should not be embarrassed by our state song 鈥� and the fact that we are means it鈥檚 time to take action.鈥�
Said Sample-Hughes in a separate interview: 鈥淥ur nation as a whole is at a pivotal point right now that we want to seek change鈥 feel very strongly that the bill will get traction, and I believe we will get [it] out of the House.鈥�
Twice before, in 2016 and 2018, the Senate succeeded in moving legislation to modify the current state song, only to have it die in the House.
A 2016 bill 鈥� sponsored by Sens. Ronald N. Young (D-Frederick) and Delores G. Kelley (D-Baltimore County) as well as Kagan 鈥� sought to address the offensive portions of the song by revising it, merging lyrics from the original and an 1894 poem by John T. White, also entitled 鈥淢aryland, My Maryland.鈥� It cleared the Senate, but failed to get further than a House hearing.
In 2018, Kagan was lead sponsor of a compromise bill to designate the current state song as the 鈥渉istorical state song鈥� which also passed the Senate before receiving an unfavorable report in the House Health and Government Operations Committee.
Then-Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., a history buff, 鈥渨as resistant to the idea of repealing the state song. While he understood the politics, he also defended history,鈥� Kagan recalled. 鈥淪o we came up with a compromise鈥hat rather than excise it from our law books, we would move it to the section of the code that was just symbols, and we would call it the historical state song. So we would acknowledge history, but not make it our current state song.鈥�
She noted that both Miller鈥檚 successor, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), as well as House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) 鈥渁re very clearly of the opinion that it is time to take action鈥� in terms of a repeal.
鈥淭his session, we will pass legislation to repeal the state song so we can better reflect our current values of unity, diversity and inclusion,鈥� Jones said in a statement late last month to the聽Associated Press.聽鈥淲e have come too far as a state and as a country to continue to embrace symbols of hate and division.鈥�
The Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations applauded Jones鈥� declaration Tuesday.
鈥淎s America grapples with a racial reckoning, it鈥檚 time to do away with symbols and relics that hinder progress and evoke some of the most troubling chapters of our nation鈥檚 history,鈥� said聽CAIR鈥檚 Director in Maryland Zainab Chaudry.
鈥楾hat鈥檚 a very verbose song you鈥檝e got there鈥櫬�
Kagan said that 鈥渋n the past, my preference was to do a repeal and replace鈥� 鈥� which she proposed unsuccessfully in a separate 2016 bill. The approach involved a panel of judges narrowing down competing replacement songs to a few finalists, and then allowing for Internet voting to 鈥渆ngage the whole state with helping to select a tune that was sing-able and expressed Maryland鈥檚 pride and all the attributes that make us unique and special.鈥�
鈥淲ould it be nice to repeal it and replace it with a song that kids could start learning right away? Sure,鈥� Kagan added. But she said this approach potentially gets 鈥渧ery complicated, and 2021 is not the year to do that in my opinion.鈥�
As he prepared to compose his alternative to the聽status quo, Raskin said he 鈥渄id a lot of reading on Maryland鈥檚 times past, and I did a lot of listening to other state songs.鈥� Holland, who is a former river keeper for the West River and among the creators of the Annapolis Maritime Museum, in the 1980s had started a musical trio called Crab Alley. 鈥淭he concept was always to try to recover traditional songs about the Chesapeake Bay that the watermen might have been singing 100 years ago,鈥� he said.
Consequently, Holland鈥檚 鈥淭hat鈥檚 My Maryland鈥� is infused with Chesapeake Bay images (鈥淚 want to catch a blue crab in my net as ospreys circle overhead, while paddling upon a quiet creek I wanna hear the geese swarming o鈥檈r the marshes of the Eastern Shore鈥�), while Raskin, an outspokenly progressive Democrat, has focused much of his song on key Maryland figures in the fight for equal rights: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Thurgood Marshall along with his former congressional colleague, the late Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Baltimore City).
Hastings鈥� 鈥淢aryland Proud (A Place Called Maryland)鈥� incorporates references to Douglass and Marshall, as well as to the Chesapeake Bay and other geographical features of a state that has been called 鈥淎merica in miniature鈥� 鈥� while paying tribute to a couple of Maryland-born sports heroes, Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken Jr. The Raskin and Holland compositions have references to baseball鈥檚 Orioles.
The reference to Cummings (鈥淥h say can you see Elijah Cummings now, never took his hand from the freedom plow鈥�) elicited an emotional reaction when Raskin鈥檚 鈥淢aryland, My Maryland (The Free State Song)鈥� was debuted. 鈥淲hen we unveiled it at the Democratic convention, there were people who cried 鈥� and people were calling me all day to say that it was a cathartic experience to get to hear it,鈥� he said.
If Holland鈥檚 song places more of an emphasis on being 鈥渇un and upbeat,鈥� as he put it, there appears to be agreement among those aspiring to author the next state song that the composition chosen must appeal to a diverse state population.
鈥淚 think it should be鈥ing-able 鈥� and reflect everybody and every place, and be almost universal in its coverage in terms of anybody from anywhere, in any of the counties around the state, connecting with it,鈥� Holland said.
鈥淪omebody called me and said, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 a very verbose song you鈥檝e got there鈥�,鈥� Raskin related. 鈥淎nd I said, 鈥榊ou should have seen it before鈥欌�� it was finished.
He added that Jones, as his collaborator, 鈥渉elped me whittle this musical filibuster down to one well-rounded unifying song that could actually be sung鈥攁nd maybe even loved鈥攂y every person in our state: fifth graders at assembly, baseball fans up and down I-95, young people graduating from high school or college, people in union halls and town council meetings.鈥�
