Bethesda Black cemetery advocates sue River Road self-storage developers

A seven-year dispute between advocates for a desecrated Black cemetery in Bethesda, and the developers of a self-storage building directly adjacent to it, is moving to the courtroom. Several activists have filed suit against the project's developers, 1784 Capital Holdings, LLC and Bethesda Self Storage Partners, LLC, in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The civil case is the latest effort by the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to halt and reverse development impacts to the burial ground - which is located under land occupied by the Westwood Tower apartments and a second plot hastily-purchased by Montgomery County to avoid an archaeological search for graves - and ultimately have the graveyard memorialized and restored.

The six plantiffs in the case are asking the court for "a judicial declaration that the land, designated as parcel 242, was used as a burial ground and that human remains, burial artifacts and funerary objects were wrongfully removed from the site, and for an order requiring the defendants to return such remains, artifacts and objects to BACC," a press release from BACC today notes. The plaintiffs are also seeking monetary compensation. 

Although the self-storage site was not part of the original cemetery, the concern since 2017 has been that burials in Black cemeteries sometimes were placed beyond the boundaries of the graveyard in question, when property lines were not delineated by fencing. The core of the dispute is that observers with BACC say they saw potential remains and funerary objects being excavated and trucked away, while the archaeological expert hired by the developers reported that they had determined these were not human remains or funerary objects. Those bones and objects in question are now stored in a Virginia warehouse, and BACC has sought to have them reviewed by their own experts.

Among the plaintiffs are Harvey Matthews, a former resident of the Black community on River Road between Brookside Drive and Little Falls Parkway, that was wiped out by developers who evicted the residents to redevelop the area into an industrial and commercial zone in the 1960s. A second plaintiff is Darold Cuba, a historian who has extensively researched kinship communities and networks that formed in post-Emancipation America, exactly like the one on River Road formed by freed slaves from the adjacent Loughborough plantation. Cuba is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge. 

BACC and its President, Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, are also plaintiffs. BACC community organizer and activist Ari Gutman, and activist and former Green Party candidate for Montgomery County Council Timothy Willard round out the parties filing suit.

The plaintiffs have the highest-powered legal representation yet in the cemetery saga. They are being represented by the prominent and massive international law firm of Holland & Knight.

A pre-trial conference in the case has been scheduled for June 5, 2025 in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The case has been assigned to Judge James A. Bonifant.

Photo: Gail Rebhan

Montgomery County Council stonewalls Black cemetery advocates

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition recently contacted all members of the Montgomery County Council, asking each elected official to denounce the desecration of Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda, and the desecration of African-American cemeteries in general. None of them agreed to do so, and only one even replied to the inquiries. "Thank you for your email regarding Moses African Cemetery," Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe's chief of staff wrote in an email response to BACC. "This is a very complex issue which has a long history. It is not within the purview of the Council to advocate while there is both past and ongoing litigation."

"BACC rejects the logic of any and all councilmembers who remain silent," the organization said in a statement Wednesday. "First, we do not understand what the issue is regarding commenting on issues involving litigation. Through Amicus Briefs and other means, public and private entities weigh in all the time on lawsuits. Secondly, the Moses African Cemetery covers several parcels including ones not involved in litigation, allowing any Councilmember concerned about intervening in a court case to comment about the fate of portions of the cemetery not involved in litigation. In particular, the developer, 1784 Holdings, is erecting a light storage facility next to McDonalds on River Road despite the absence of a full archaeological and forensic survey investigating whether additional bones and funerary objects remain. 1784 Holdings had previously removed several possible funerary objects and is storing them in a warehouse in Gainesville, Virginia. A proper investigation of these objects has not been conducted, The Council could call of a third party, impartial investigation now."

"BACC believes the Council must reverse course and take a strong stand against desecration. No other local official at any level has spoken out. The council has an opportunity to lead if it can shake off its bureaucratic mindset."

Bethesda Black cemetery advocates raise Juneteenth flag at Jamie Raskin's office

Leaders and members of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition traveled to Congressman Jamie Raskin's office last week, to protest Raskin's "continued refusal to take congressional action on the desecration, flooding, pouring of concrete on our ancestors, and cover-up of crimes against African people in Moses African Cemetery." Raskin previously visited the site of the burial ground, which is located under Montgomery County government-owned parcels of land on the Westwood Tower property, and directly across the Willett Branch stream from the rear parking lot of Westwood Tower. However, he has refused to meet with the group since or take action at the federal level on the cemetery issues, BACC says.

At Raskin's office last week, the group raised the Juneteenth flag in honor of Pvt. William H.H. Brown, who served with the United States Colored Troops who fought for the Union side in the U.S. Civil War. Brown is among the many former slaves buried in Moses African Cemetery. BACC has also created a video with a Civil War reenactor playing Pvt. Brown. "We told the White Union officers, if they would give us the gun, we would free ourselves," the actor portraying Brown says in the video. "We won our freedom. Now Montgomery County, Maryland is desecrating our sacred remains."

The BACC has called on the public to boycott all official Montgomery County government-sponsored Juneteenth events, in light of our elected officials' inaction on the cemetery matters. It has planned a full program of alternative Juneteenth events it encourages residents to attend instead. See the event announcements below for full details:

Black cemetery advocates call for boycott of Montgomery County Juneteenth events

Advocates protesting the ongoing desecration of Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda are calling for a boycott of Montgomery County government-sponsored Juneteenth 2024 events. The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition is organizing the boycott to highlight the failure of Montgomery County elected officials at the local, state and federal levels to condemn the desecration and intervene in the matter. BACC is asking residents to instead attend an alternative slate of Juneteenth events that it will be sponsoring.

The BACC Juneteenth events will include an interfaith program on June 15, 2024 at 1:00 PM at Macedonia Baptist Church at 5119 River Road in Bethesda, and a community program on June 19 from 3:00 to 6:00 PM at the church that will include speakers, food and cultural performances. Further details on the June 19 event are pending.

BACC announced the planned boycott yesterday, Memorial Day, by also recognizing an American Civil War veteran who is buried in Moses African Cemetery. Pvt. William H.H. Brown served in the 30th United States Colored Troops (USCT) Regiment. The 30th is credited with exhibiting incredible heroism in many critical events and battles, in the service of a Union that had given them nothing up to that point in its history. 

A Maryland state archive lists a Pvt. William H. Brown as having been mustered into Company E of the 30th on March 3, 1864. The record indicates Pvt. Brown was honorably discharged, like a majority of the 30th, on December 10, 1865.

The biggest of BACC's alternative Juneteenth events will be a celebration of Brown's service and heroism on June 18 at 1:00 PM, beginning at Macedonia Baptist Church. An honor guard of 30th USCT Regiment Civil War reenactors will lead a march from the church to the nearby Moses African Cemetery. There, they will lay a wreath, raise the Juneteenth flag, and sound Taps. The public is invited to join the march and ceremony. 

Private Brown is one of many whose graves either remain under a parking lot alongside and behind the Westwood Tower apartments in Bethesda, or whose remains were directly desecrated and illegally relocated into a mass grave elsewhere on the site. Montgomery County has blocked all attempts to conduct any independent archaeological examination of the two recognized cemetery parcels, one of which it already owned via the Housing Opportunity Commission's ownership of Westwood Tower, and the other - located across the Willett Branch stream from Westwood Tower's rear parking lot - it hastily acquired to prevent any search for remains.

A third parcel directly adjacent to the second is now being developed as a self-storage building by a private company. While that parcel was not officially part of the cemetery, concerns were raised during the project approval process in 2017 about burials that may have occurred just over the property line of the graveyard, a phenomenon not unusual in cemeteries of that era where boundaries may not have been physically delineated. Those concerns were brushed aside by the Montgomery County Planning Board, who called in armed police to intimidate cemetery advocates peacefully protesting at the public hearing. In addition to demanding silence of the protesters, officers ordered them to turn their signs around to the blank side.

The self-storage project has faced many delays since its approval. When excavation commenced, observers with the BACC reported seeing possible bones and funerary objects being removed from the site. An archaeological expert employed by the developer declared that the materials were not human remains or funerary objects, and they were trucked away and stored in a Virginia warehouse at an unknown location. The BACC and its own expert asked why, if the developer's expert was correct, they could not have a chance to examine the items themselves.

BACC officials have asked Montgomery County elected officials at the local, state and federal levels to condemn the desecration of the cemetery, and to intervene in several respects, including the release of the excavated materials for independent review. None have done so. 

The cemetery and Macedonia Baptist Church are the only physical remnants of a vibrant Black community that existed in the now-industrialized and commercialized area along River Road between Brookside Drive and Little Falls Parkway. Former slaves emancipated from the adjacent Loughborough plantation established the community after the Civil War. A River Road "colored school" provided education prior to desegregation of public schools. The community's descendants were forced from the land in the 1950s and 1960s by developers via various illegal or unethical means. 

Former resident Harvey Matthews - who grew up on a property now home to a Whole Foods Market - has cited the deceptions and intimidations employed by developers, including physical threats and actual violence by a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. He recalls that he and his family were beaten by Klansmen. Montgomery County government and law enforcement looked the other way at the time, and not only allowed the Black community to be forced out, but completely eliminated its history from the official County historical narrative.

The HOC recently violated Maryland law by trying to sell the cemetery property to a private developer, without contacting the descendants of those buried there. That matter is now before the Maryland Supreme Court. A recent concrete pour at the self-storage construction site only further angered the descendant community.

"This is the level of vile barbarism [and] White supremacy that is unmatched in history," BACC President Marcia Coleman-Adebayo said on WPFW FM last week, citing the shocking fate of Pvt. Brown's remains. "This is how Montgomery County, Maryland celebrates Juneteenth, and this is why the BACC calls for boycott of the Montgomery County Juneteenth program."

Photo of 30th USCT Regiment provided by BACC

Bethesda Black cemetery advocates enraged by concrete pour at construction site

Controversy continues to swirl around the construction of a self-storage building on a plot of land directly adjacent to the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. Advocates for the cemetery, including the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, have raised concerns about possible skeletal remains and funerary objects they say they have observed being excavated and trucked away from the site. A renowned expert on African-American burial grounds asked Montgomery County officials if he could examine the items in question, but was denied access, and the excavated materials remain locked in a warehouse at an undisclosed location in Virginia. Elected officials at the local, state and federal levels have declined to intervene in the remains controversy, and advocates' outrage only increased this week when concrete was poured over the site, which is located behind the McDonald's restaurant on River Road.

The construction site was not officially part of the cemetery, which is hidden under two parking lots behind Westbard Tower on Westbard Avenue, the construction of which in the late 1960s desecrated many graves. However, the concern has been that boundaries of many Black cemeteries have historically been poorly defined, and that remains have sometimes been buried beyond the formal property lines. Those concerns were heightened after observers associated with BACC claimed to have seen items being unearthed that resembled bones, headstones, and other funerary objects. The self-storage business has its own credentialed archaeological expert, who was said to have examined these materials, and concluded they were not human bones. Advocates want to know why, if this is true, they cannot have access to the materials for independent review.

County officials and law enforcement have sided with the conclusions of the self-storage team, and say no law is being broken. As construction advances, emotions are also rising among cemetery activists and the descendant community.

"We have been robbed in the Black River Road community," Harvey Matthews, a former resident of the community said. "Our land was stolen. My father and grandfather were nearly beaten to death by the KKK. I was beaten by the KKK. In the 1950s, Montgomery County poured cement to build a parking lot over the bodies of Black people. Now in 2024, Montgomery County and developers have poured cement over the bodies of black people, again, to hide the bones of our ancestors that they found and stole. These are monsters!"

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, President of BACC, vowed to keep up the political pressure on elected officials at all levels. "In the coming weeks, leading up to the commemoration of Juneteenth, BACC will lead demonstrations, rallies, and other events to demand justice for our ancestors and criminal prosecution of those involved in this heinous crime," she said. "Every Wednesday at 4:00 PM, community members [will] gather at Moses to bring attention to this crime against humanity."

Bethesda cemetery protest scheduled for Wednesday, March 27

Tower crane at self-storage construction site
visible behind Mcdonald's on River Road

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition has scheduled a protest for Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at 4:00 PM next to 5214 River Road in Bethesda. BACC leaders blame the developer of a self-storage project adjacent to the Moses African Cemetery for flooding a large area of the burial ground since January. They say a drainage pipe has been positioned to direct floodwater from the self-storage excavation site onto the graveyard, which was first desecrated during construction of the Westwood Tower apartments in the late 1960s. Montgomery County police would not allow BACC to file a police report about the flooding, they reported in a statement. They have also accused Maryland Congressman David Trone (D), who made a racial slur during a congressional hearing Thursday, of previously declaring "Who cares about that little cemetery?" when approached by BACC President Marcia Coleman Adebayo to seek his assistance.

Bethesda Black cemetery advocates to protest at Jamie Raskin campaign event tonight

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition will hold a protest rally outside of a campaign event for Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin (D) tonight, February 22, 2024, at 7:00 PM at the Silver Spring Civic Building. Advocates for the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda have been seeking Raskin's help in getting federal action on the historic gravesite, which is hidden under parking lots behind the Westwood Tower apartments. BACC President Marsha Coleman-Adebayo says that the cemetery is in Raskin's district, but that he "refuses to condemn the desecration and flooding" of the burial ground.

Those interesting in participating in tonight's protest are asked to meet up at Ben and Jerry's at 903 Ellsworth Drive in Silver Spring (across from the Civic Building) at 6:00 PM tonight. But if you can't get there that early, just head to the Civic Building at 7:00.

Montgomery County allowed 15-story Westwood Tower in Bethesda to operate without fire alarms for 2 months

The Montgomery County government and owner Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County allowed residents to occupy the 15-story Westwood Tower apartments for two months without an operating fire alarm system. County officials have now condemned the high-rise building at 5401 Westbard Avenue in Bethesda after an electrical fire brought the existing violations to light this past weekend, and further damaged the building's electrical systems. In lieu of a functioning fire alarm system, HOC had posted signs inside the tower instructing residents to "evacuate and call 911" in case of a fire. The signs did not advise how residents who might be asleep during a fire would be aware one had broken out, nor how their neighbors in the approximately 200 apartments would be notified on more than a dozen floors.

Sign posted inside Westwood Tower after the
building's fire alarm system went down on November 9, 2023;
it was never repaired, and the building was condemned after
a fire on January 6, 2024

After the fire alarm system broke down on November 9, 2023, the HOC stationed personnel in the building lobby to be on-duty in case of a fire. It was unclear how one person could physically cover 15 floors (not to mention without an elevator),and knock on hundreds of doors, in the few seconds that might be needed for all residents to safely evacuate. One resident reported that these employees were sometimes seen dozing off in the lobby. Residents report that the HOC never informed them of a timeline for restoration of the fire alarm system. "Fire officials have repeatedly been called to the building because of the lack of a fire alarm," one resident said, and that the building has been "cited repeatedly because of a lack of fire alarm."

Generator outside the building, which has
no power; residents have been relocated

The insanity of the idea of one person being able to function as a human fire alarm for a 15-story building became clear this past Saturday night, when a transformer blew inside the building. Several residents I spoke to reported that not only were there no fire alarms sounding, but the backup "human fire alarm" in the lobby did not contact any of them. They smelled and saw smoke, and self-evacuated, alerting other residents on their way out of the building. One resident who lives on a floor that did not initially have smoke only learned the building was on fire when a friend who lived on a smoke-filled floor called them to say there was a fire, and to get out. 

Residents report that they were left freezing in the building from 6:00 PM Saturday night, until the building was condemned and evacuated 24 hours later. Power in the building was limited, and there was no heat at all. Security functions to keep non-residents and potential criminals out of the building were inoperable.

To top it off, the HOC initially refused to provide alternative shelter to residents, advising them to instead make a claim on their own apartment insurance to cover the cost of hotel rooms. As the details began to reach the public a day later, Montgomery County agencies announced they were providing off-site shelter. The HOC said the residents were being moved to hotels in the area. Residents were told that they could be displaced from the building for as long as three weeks.

There is concern among residents, given the County's inaction regarding the fire alarm outage in the preceding weeks and the building's ownership being politically affliated with the elected officials who appoint and oversee them, that repairs will be allowed to drag on. Last night, two extremely loud generators roared outside the darkened apartment tower. There was no visible activity at the building. 

Residents of HOC properties have long pointed out issues regarding health and safety in their buildings. Those complaints were backed up by the findings of federal inspections, which found 75% of the units they inspected failed to meet federal standards. It now appears the agency was allowed to violate the County's fire code for two months, by operating a building without functioning smoke and fire alarms to alert occupants.

The HOC acquired the building several years ago with grand plans to construct more buildings and garages on the property. When those plans were stymied by protests that arose when the agency announced it intended to build a parking garage on top of the Moses African Cemetery at the rear of the property - where many of the graves were desecrated during the building's construction in the late 1960s, the HOC then attempted to sell it to a private developer. That sale was temporarily blocked by a Montgomery County court injunction, and the buyer backed out of the transaction. The dispute - that the HOC tried to sell the land with the cemetery without notifying the descendants of those interred there, in violation of Maryland law - will be ruled on by the Maryland Supreme Court later this year.

The County and the HOC are only fortunate that Saturday's fire was not more serious. This could have been a catastrophic disaster, had a fast-moving fire engulfed the building. Elected officials have yet to criticize the situation that existed at the property; in fact, the County Councilmember who represents the area has so far tweeted only praise for County agencies.

Maryland Supreme Court to hear case on sale of Moses African Cemetery on January 8, 2024

Maryland's Supreme Court is now scheduled to hear the case regarding the attempted sale of a Bethesda property containing Moses African Cemetery on January 8, 2024. The case of Dr. Olusegun Adebayo and the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) vs. the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County (HOC) centers on the HOC's alleged violation of a state law that requires descendants of those buried in a cemetery to be notified of the potential sale of that land. 

A Montgomery County judge granted an injunction against the sale of the Westwood Tower property to Charger Ventures, but was overruled by an appeals court decision. Charger Ventures then withdrew its purchase offer. Adebayo and BACC have appealed to the state's highest court now, which will have the final say, unless the plaintiffs seek a further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court following this ruling.

"This is the first time that a state supreme court is being asked to limit the power of developers and state agencies regarding the selling and desecration of African burial grounds and our ancestors," BACC said in a statement Monday. "The decision by the Maryland Supreme Court will have national and perhaps, international ramifications. The court will decide whether Black bodies can be sold to private or public agecies and the land laundered for non-burial purposes without oversight by the court or descendant families. BACC is on the front lines of fighting for both the living and our ancestors. Please plan to join BACC on January 8th and by your presence declare: Black Bodies are Not for Sale! People over Profit!"

BACC is organizing bus transportation to the Supreme Court in Annapolis for the January 8 hearing. To get a sense of how many people are interesting in riding the bus, BACC has created an online form at bit.ly/baccbus. If you cannot attend, but want to help fund the bus trip and other efforts by BACC, an online donation portal has also been created.

Montgomery County government allowing Moses African Cemetery to be a dumping ground for trash (Photos)

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition is again bringing attention to the illegal dumping of trash on the grounds of the already-desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. Both parcels of the hidden cemetery are currently owned by Montgomery County government entities: the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County, and the Montgomery Parks department. BACC is speaking out about trash recently dumped on the parcel owned by Montgomery Parks, including rolls of toilet paper, mattresses and discarded furniture. "The continued use of Moses Cemetery as a dumping ground by Montgomery County residents is a disturbing display of white supremacy and anti-Black racism, all with full backing and support from county officials," BACC said in a statement today. 

Moses African Cemetery, where former slaves of nearby plantations - and residents of the post-Civil War Black community on River Road that was wiped out by developers by the 1960s - are interred, was first desecrated during the construction of the Westwood Tower apartment building in the late 1960s. Montgomery County officials looked the other way, and did not step in or penalize those responsible then, or now. Officials of BACC and Macedonia Baptist Church in Bethesda continue to ask the County to turn over ownership and control of the cemetery land and its graves to the descendant community. BACC notes that surveillance cameras and security guards have been used to block access to the cemetery by Black descendants, but that they are not used to stop the illegal dumping on the gravesites.

"The tools of the state are targeted towards Black people, never the real criminals - the desecrators," BACC said in its Monday statement. "The County has proven unable to provide our ancestors a peaceful rest, and have instead spent the past few decades destroying any remnants of the Black community our ancestors built on River Road...We will not rest until Moses Cemetery is ours." 

Hate crime report filed with USDOJ regarding desecrated Bethesda cemetery

A protest of a Democratic Party fundraiser in Potomac this past weekend by advocates for the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda has borne political fruit. The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition announced today that it has filed a hate crime report with the U.S. Department of Justice, as advised by U.S. Congressman Jamie Raskin (D - 8th District). Raskin, who along with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore was one of the targets of the protest at the Saturday event, has told the BACC that he will follow up with the DOJ to "ensure the report is reviewed," the organization claimed in a statement. 

Moses African Cemetery, located largely on the Westwood Tower property in Bethesda, was first desecrated in the late 1960s by workers building the apartment tower. The rest of the graves were paved over for a parking lot, and the matter was covered up by Montgomery County officials for decades. A potential sale of the Westwood Tower property, including the graveyard, by owner Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County is stalled in a legal battle that is now moving to the Maryland Supreme Court. BACC has alleged that the HOC violated Maryland law by entering a sale agreement of a burial site without contacting the descendants of those interred there.

Over 200 bone fragments from a construction site directly adjacent to the cemetery have been trucked to a warehouse in Virginia over objections by the BACC, which has asked the private developer and County officials to allow their independent expert to examine them. Neither has agreed to date to allow the review.

"The report provides a detailed overview of the desecration of Moses, detailing the crimes, the criminals, and their accomplices," BACC said in today's statement. "Despite years of advocacy and appeals by BACC and our legal team to end the pillaging of funerary objects, tombstones, and possible human remains, we have seen no action from local officials. As we have documented and shared with the public, it is clear that many of these officials are themselves deeply involved in this hate crime and subsequent cover-up. They have been named in the report.

"BACC will continue to demand the return of all funerary objects, possible human remains (for independent testing by Dr. Michael Blakey), and ultimately the return of Moses Cemetery to the descendant community for proper stewardship. The county and the developers it has provided permits to (which they have failed to comply with) should not be responsible for our ancestors, whom they have dug up and disrespected time and time again."

A series of rallies outside the U.S. Department of Justice are being planned by BACC. The organization is hopeful that the report they have filed will result in a long-sought federal investigation into the known crimes and alleged crimes that have taken place at the historic Black cemetery over the last six decades. Maryland's Supreme Court is expected to take up the BACC's case against the HOC in January.

Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to protest Maryland governor, congressman at Potomac fundraiser

BACC President Marsha Coleman-Adebayo at
a 2017 protest regarding Moses African Cemetery

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition will protest outside a Maryland Democratic Party fundraiser in Potomac today, an event Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Congressman Jamie Raskin (D - 8th District) are expected to attend. Leaders of the BACC are demanding Moore and Raskin take action to end the desecration of the Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda, and force the release the over 200 bone fragments that were exhumed on a construction site adjacent to the graveyard for testing, to determine if they are human remains. Those remains were trucked out of state to a Virginia warehouse, and neither Montgomery County nor the private developer of the site has agreed to make them available for independent testing. Raskin visited the graveyard site in-person, and was asked to act at the federal level to address the cemetery issues, but later said he would defer to Montgomery County officials on the matter and ceased correspondence with BACC.

Today's protest will take place between 12:15 and 2:30 PM outside 9400 Persimmon Tree Road in Potomac. This appears to be a private mansion. According to the website of the Montgomery County Democratic Party, the "Afternoon of Elegance" event will be held from 2:00 to 4:00 PM today.

Bethesda Black cemetery advocates deliver "bones" to Montgomery County Executive

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coaltion made good on its promise to take a symbolic action at a budget forum hosted by Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich last night at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center. Prop "bones" were dropped onto the floor in front of Elrich's podium, representing the more than 200 real bones that were excavated from a self-storage construction site on River Road behind the McDonald's in Bethesda, and trucked away to a Virginia warehouse without allowing independent testing by BACC's expert to determine if they are human or animal remains. The excavation site is directly adjacent to the desecrated Moses African Cemetery.

"Mr. Elrich has not lifted a finger to ensure proper testing is conducted," BACC said in a statement today. "Instead, he slandered Dr Marsha Adebayo, President of BACC, publicly calling her a liar during yesterday's meeting when she spoke about the remains and demanded the return of the bones to the descendant community. By continuing to deny the racism, criminal actions, and disregard for the Black community on River Road by the developers and county agencies, Mr. Elrich has chosen to stand on the side of white supremacy. We will continue to protest at events held by Mr. Elrich until he meets the demands of BACC and/or steps down."

Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to "pour 200+ symbolic bones" at September 27 protest in Bethesda

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition plans to protest Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich's appearance at a County budget forum this Wednesday, September 27, 2023 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, in the East-West Room, at 4805 Edgemoor Lane in downtown Bethesda. In a statement, BACC says it intends to "pour 200+ symbolic bones at Marc Elrich's feet," representing bones and other artifacts removed from a construction site directly adjacent to the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda that were trucked to a Gainesville, Virginia warehouse. BACC asserts that Elrich and the self-storage company developing the construction site have both blocked access to the remains for independent testing, and that the remains have not been adequately tested to determine if they are human or not.

The site in question, directly behind the McDonald's at 5214 River Road in Bethesda, was not part of Moses African Cemetery. But given the reality that property lines of older, unfenced cemeteries - and of segregated Black cemeteries like Moses - in then-rural areas were not always clear or precisely followed in burials, there was a strong concern that there could be human remains on the site. The Montgomery County Planning Board ignored those concerns when it approved construction of a self-storage building on the property in 2017. 

Demolition of an auto repair building on the site soon followed, and excavation began on the project in 2020, but it has been beset by delays and interruptions ever since. The developer has not commented publicly on why the project has repeatedly stalled out, and the BACC has maintained a steady campaign of protests and rallies at the site, which have garned local, national and international media coverage. Elrich, the County Council and Congressman Jamie Raskin have all declined to intervene in the dispute, leading BACC to protest at their offices and public appearances. 

"Moses Cemetery is located in Mr. Raskin’s district," BACC said in a statement this week, "and we demand that he fight white supremacy in his own backyard as he purports to do on a national level." In the same statement, BACC calls Elrich's inaction on the issue "a clear allegiance to white supremacy." Raskin has said he is deferring to local officials on the matter, and Elrich - who walked in Dr. Martin Luther King's March on Washington and was active in the civil rights movement -  has maintained that he has no legal authority to intervene in the case.

Maryland Supreme Court to hear appeal in Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition case

Maryland's Supreme Court yesterday agreed to hear the appeal of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to overturn a state appellate court ruling regarding the sale of property that includes a major portion of Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. The June ruling itself overturned an injunction by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Karla Smith, that froze the impending sale of Westwood Tower at 5401 Westbard Avenue to Charger Ventures. Charger Ventures withdrew its purchase offer following Smith's ruling, but Westwood Tower owner Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County appealed to the higher court and won. 

The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling in this case will have local and national implications for Black cemeteries, many of which are today in states of desecration and disrepair, hidden, or under threat from development. Moses African Cemetery is in all three categories. 

Smith ruled that HOC had entered a sale agreement without notifying the descendants of those buried in the cemetery, and without giving them a chance to weigh in on the sale, as required under Maryland law. Inexplicably, the appellate court found that following the law was not necessary.

This is a common occurrance when citizens challenge developers and powerful real estate interests in any Montgomery County or Maryland court. BACC noted yesterday that the Maryland Supreme Court only accepts about 15% of the certiorari petitions filed. But residents win over developers in our courts at an even lower rate than that, with judges blatantly ignoring statutory requirements on developers and planning authorities, as in the Westbard case. Smith, a relatively recent appointee to the Circuit Court in 2015, was a rare exception in ruling that the laws actually do apply to developers in Montgomery County.

Photo courtesy Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition

Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to converge on Congressman Jamie Raskin's Washington, D.C. office today

Raskin touring the Moses African Cemetery site
with BACC President Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
earlier this year

Leaders and members of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition will converge on the Rayburn Office Building office of U.S. Congressman Jamie Raskin (D - MD 8th District) this afternoon, Wednesday, September 20, 2023 at 3:00 PM. The organization, which advocates for the desecrated Moses African Cemetery now hidden primarily on the Westwood Tower property in Bethesda, says Raskin has ignored the cemetery issue despite being briefed on its history and visiting the site. BACC says it hopes to meet with Raskin during the office visit, and will demand he stop the ongoing desecration of the site, and call for a federal criminal investigation into all crimes committed at the cemetery since it was first disturbed in the 1960s.

Despite his awareness of the cemetery issues, Raskin has said he will continue to defer to Montgomery County officials rather than take action himself, BACC says. "The local officials he is referring to are the same who are responsible for the crimes," BACC argues in a press release. BACC says anyone wishing to participate in this afternoon's visit should meet outside the Independence Avenue entrance of the Rayburn Office Building at 2:30 PM. "BACC will continue to visit Jamie Raskin until it is clear that he will take action," organizers said in a statement.

Montgomery County misses deadline to release bone fragments to Bethesda cemetery advocates

Montgomery County has ignored a second deadline to relinquish over 200 bone fragments excavated from a site directly adjacent to the Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda to cemetery advocates and the descendant community for testing. Attorneys for the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition had set a deadline of August 15, 2023 for the County, a developer excavating the site for a self-storage project, and a contractor to release the bone fragments from their current location in a Gainesville, Virginia warehouse. Advocates, and descendants of those buried in the cemetery, want to confirm if any of the excavated fragments are indeed human remains. They have sought assistance from County Executive Marc Elrich and Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin (D - 8th District) in this effort, to no avail so far.

This was the second time BACC had set a deadline. The first was on Juneteenth earlier this summer. This latest deadline was the first submitted by the organization's attorneys. BACC is now asking the public to write to Raskin and Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen (D), to ask them to facilitate a federal intervention in the matter. 

Moses African Cemetery was desecrated in the late 1960s during the construction of Westwood Tower, and remains hidden under two parking lots astride the Willett Branch stream behind the apartment tower. The current standoff over who will possess the potential human remains is eerily reminiscent of the horrific and illegal use of African-American remains in medical experimentation during the 1800s and 1900s, and the retention of many of those remains in American institutional collections to this day.

"Montgomery County is engaged in grave robbing to signal its contempt for Black people and to line the pockets of developers," BACC President Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo said in a statement Tuesday evening. "Not only is this sick but clearly criminal. How can a County that prides itself on being 'progressive' allow Black bodies to be trafficked from Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda, Maryland (represented by Congressman Jamie Raskin) to a warehouse owned by an US govenment contractor - without any legal consequences? We call upon the Department of Justice (FBI) to initiate a federal investigation leading to prosecution. No one is above the law. What is happening in Bethesda is a hate crime that must be punished to the full extent of the law."

Maryland appellate judge overturns ruling blocking sale of property with hidden Black cemetery in Bethesda

The second-highest court in Maryland has reversed a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge's decision to block the sale of Westwood Tower in Bethesda by the County Housing Opportunities Commission to Charger Ventures. Judge Karla Smith had ruled in October 2021 that the sale could not proceed because the HOC had failed to notify descendants of those buried in the Moses African Cemetery, which is hidden underneath the rear parking lot of the apartment tower. The cemetery was desecrated by construction workers building the high rise in the late 1960s.

"The ruling is disgraceful," Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition President Marsha Coleman-Adebyao said in a statement this morning. "It shows no sensitivity to, or understanding of, the nature of African-American burial grounds. It treats the rights of the owner of a parking lot that was built over hundreds of African-American graves as superior to the dignity of the people interred in the burial ground. BACC attorney Steve Lieberman said he was concerned that "if this ruling is permitted to stand, it is open season on traditional African-American burial grounds in Maryland, None of the graves in such burial grounds will be safe."

Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin to speak at Montgomery County Juneteenth event

Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin (D - 8th District) will be the headlining speaker at what is shaping up to be the biggest Juneteenth event in Montgomery County for Monday, June 19, 2023. The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition's Juneteenth Observance event will be held by the site of the desecrated Moses African Cemetery, next to 5214 River Road in Bethesda (behind the McDonald's), from 2:00 - 5:00 PM on Monday. Raskin will be the first U.S. Congressperson to personally visit the cemetery site. BACC representatives have sought Raskin's support for the cemetery cause, so his remarks on Monday will be heard with great interest.

Also appearing at the event will be Maryland Delegate Lorig Charkoudian (D - District 20), historian and author C.R. Gibbs, and Harvey Matthews, an official with Macedonian Baptist Church and a former resident of the lost African-American community that existed for about a century on River Road in Bethesda. The performing talents of Evergreen Productions and the Walt Whitman Drumline will be on display at this very special commemoration of Black history in Bethesda.

Black cemetery advocates call for boycott of Montgomery County Juneteenth events over missing remains

Object cemetery advocates believe is
an intact headstone from
Moses African Cemetery, photographed
by observers during excavation for a
self-storage building in Bethesda

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition is calling for a boycott of Montgomery County government-sponsored Juneteenth events this year, if the County does not bring forward missing bone fragments - along with a chain of custody of those remains - discovered during excavation for a self-storage building behind the McDonald's on River Road in Bethesda, by June 19, 2023. Those fragments were dislodged during excavation work in 2020, on a property directly adjacent to the boundaries of the Moses African Cemetery, which is hidden beneath the rear parking lot of Westwood Tower and a gravel parking lot below the rear of McDonald's and Talbert's. The developer's archaeological advisor declared at the time that they were not human bones. But internationally-renowned anthropologist Dr. Michael Blakey, an expert on African-American burial sites and known for his role in the development of the African Burial Ground National Monument in New York City, called for an immediate halt to excavation after reviewing photographs of the mystery remains.

"The photograph I was shown...shows fragments of light-colored elongated material consistent with skeletal material, but is not currently verifiable as such," Blakey wrote in 2020. When Blakey asked Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich if he could examine the fragments with his own expertise, he was allegedly told that the bone fragments were now missing. 

"Marc Elrich and I talked, and he told me that human remains had been, I'm sorry, that remains had been found on the site," Blakey recounted in an interview earlier this year. "And they had been sent to a laboratory somewhere. And they were discovered not to be by those who were doing the assessment. And I assumed they were people with the kind of expertise I have as a bioarchaeologist, or they may have been forensic anthropologists, to identify human bone from bone fragments."

"I did not necessarily trust the situation myself at that point. I'd like to see! And so I asked Mr. Elrich if I could observe and examine those remains, and in so doing, my assessment might be trusted. And at some point along in the conversation - I think he was going to go back - and then we had a second conversation, as I roughly recall. They were not sure, his understanding was, that the archaeologists nor he were sure of where the remains were. And that's suspicious."

"I was not afforded the permission to [examine] those bone fragments. The question is, 'What are you hiding? What are you afraid of?' The way to allay distrust is transparency. Complete, utter transparency. There's no reason not to have that in a trustworthy situation. And so one would think [this] situation not trustworthy."

"The treatment of the descendant community in Bethesda was equivalent to calling them the N-word. Racism is about so many kinds of degradations, of exclusion, and 'white hoarding,' as someone put it, of things that don't belong to them. And maybe in this case, in the case of Moses Cemetery, the term 'dismissal' is appropriate. The Black community's humane interests were just dismissed."

Moses African Cemetery was desecrated and paved over during the construction of Westwood Tower in the late 1960s. A longstanding concern of cemetery advocates has been the possibility that some remains may have been buried beyond the property line of the cemetery, a common finding in other Black cemeteries across the country. Those concerns were unanimously dismissed by the Montgomery County Planning Board in 2017, at a meeting where Chair Casey Anderson called in armed police to confront Black activists peacefully protesting to stop the self-storage project.

With the approval of Anderson and the Planning Board, excavation at the self-storage site began. Blakey's concerns were echoed by those of Dr. Adrienne Pine, Professor of Anthropology at American University, Dr. Rachel Watkins, Associate Professor of Anthropology at American University, and Dr. Tammy R. Hilburn, an archaeologist and cultural property crime specialist. Hilburn observed the excavation and construction work at the site from beyond the property line on an almost-daily basis since June 8, 2020.

"I have seen no screening of dirt nor manifestation of the items or personnel typically associated with proper archaeological methodologies," Hilburn says. "I have seen archaeological strata and possible biomass, as well as possible osseous fragments, not to mention other cultural material, in piles being shifted around and re-used on the site that is to be the new storage facility." Among the possible funerary objects seen by observers was one that strongly resembled a headstone. The cemetery's headstones were believed to have been bulldozed into the earth prior to construction of Westwood Tower.

"Elrich has known since 2020 that bones were recovered at the worksite of the Bethesda Self Storage project," BACC President Marsha Coleman-Adebayo said in a statement Tuesday. "Those bones were trafficked across state lines with instructions in 2020 that they needed DNA analysis. None was done.  BACC calls for a boycott of Montgomery County [government's] Juneteenth activities in protest of these startling revelations that we received—not from Mr. Elrich or any other County official—but via our Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) requests."

“Mr. Elrich was told three years ago by world renowned anthropologist, Dr. Michael Blakey, that the loss of bones that were discovered at the site was unacceptable and suspicious,” the Rev. Dr. Segun  Adebayo, Pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church said in a statement. "Three years ago Dr. Blakey advised Mr. Elrich to halt construction and to bring BACC into a central role in the oversight process. Elrich failed to act, allowing massive destruction of Moses Cemetery.” Macedonia Baptist Church is the sole physical remnant of the Black community that existed on River Road from after the Civil War until the 1960s.

"Despite the County knowing of [National Historic Preservation Act] Section 106 mandates, Mr. Elrich consistently insists he is powerless to stop the desecration," Coleman-Adebayo continued in her statement. "No local official—the 106 process must be initiated by a government official—has stepped forward to initiate the process."

As a result, the BACC is calling for a boycott of County government-sponsored Juneteenth events for 2023, until and unless the remains are located and returned to the cemetery soil. BACC invites the public to instead attend its own Juneteenth observance on June 19, between 2:00 and 5:00 PM opposite 5119 River Road in Bethesda. Speakers at the event will include Maryland 8th District U.S. Congressman Jamie Raskin (D), and Harvey Matthews, a childhood resident of the lost Black community on River Road.

Montgomery County failed to apply the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966's "stringent  procedures regarding the disruption of a cemetery as prerequisites for building permits—and  archaeological best practices mandating the inclusion of the descendant community in the central role of the disposition of ancestral remains," Coleman-Adebayo said. "The County did none of these, yet still sings the praises of Juneteenth? Juneteenth didn’t stop Jim Crow. Juneteenth didn’t stop the Klan. And it hasn’t stopped the desecration" of Moses African Cemetery.

Photo courtesy BACC