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Unidentified speaker at Montgomery County meeting honors Black History Month, warns against attempts to erase history
Summary
At a Montgomery County Council meeting, an unidentified speaker marked Black History Month, recounted the story of Ona Judge, and warned the county would oppose efforts to remove or erase Black historical markers, while recognizing local leaders who helped establish a county reconciliation commission.
An unidentified speaker addressed a Montgomery County Council gathering to mark Black History Month and warned against efforts to "erase" Black history, recounting the story of Ona Judge and criticizing federal actions the speaker said removed historical markers.
The speaker opened by noting milestone anniversaries — 250 years since the founding of the county and the United States and 100 years since Carter G. Woodson launched Black History Month — and framed the observance as a moment to confront structural inequities. "They'll celebrate black achievement in speeches while firing thousands of federal workers," the speaker said, calling that pattern "double speak."
The speaker recounted the life of Ona Judge, who was born into slavery at Mount Vernon and chosen as Martha Washington's personal maid. The speaker said Judge fled the Washingtons' Philadelphia residence on May 21, 1796, and described a contemporaneous Philadelphia law that limited how long an enslaved person could be kept in the city to six months; the speaker said the Washingtons rotated enslaved workers to skirt that restriction. The speaker noted that President Washington attempted to return Judge but that she remained in New Hampshire, married and raised a family.
The speaker also said the National Park Service "at the direction of President Trump's executive order removed the plaques of a Philadelphia walking tour called the Black Journey." The speaker added a personal detail about their child touring the walk a week before the plaques were removed and said the child was inspired to read about Ona Judge.
Responding to those developments, the speaker vowed county-level resistance: "So let me be very clear. There's no executive order. There's no federal directive. There's no, erasure that we're gonna allow here in Montgomery County. Black black history is American history, and Montgomery County will always be a place where it's honored, taught, and protected." The remarks said the county will recognize leaders who have shaped local Black history, naming former County Executive Ike Leggett, Judge Carla Smith and Jason Green, chair of the Montgomery County Commission on Reconciliation and Remembrance, and credited council members Rice and Riemer for co-leading the commission's establishment.
The speech closed with a call to remember and to recommit to the work of progress; no formal votes or actions on the subject are recorded in the transcript.
