Historic Decision Gives David Win Over Goliath: Maryland Court Halts Sale of Moses African Cemetery by Developer

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, BAR editor and columnist

02 Nov 2021

A judge has ruled in favor of the community fighting to prevent a real estate developer from destroying an African American cemetery in Bethesda, Maryland.

Montgomery County, Maryland Circuit Judge Karla N. Smith granted a Preliminary Injunction blocking the sale of the property containing Bethesda Maryland’s Moses Macedonia African Cemetery to a land developer on Tuesday, in the case of Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) v. Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC). The parking lots for the apartment rest on top of the Moses Cemetery. Destruction of African burial grounds have historically been carried out with impunity.

Africans who were kidnapped and forced into bondage were voiceless and without legal standing in American courts. Their collective fates were left in the hands of their violators. Judge Smith posthumously gave enslaved and post-emancipated African-Americans a voice through their descendants and established their humanity, so that their remains would not be sold without due process and in consultation with their families.

The community won against the developers, the powerful, the wealthy, the politically connected. The court granted “the people” a preliminary injunction against a government agency selling African ancestors’ remains to a venture capitalist land developer.

According to BACC lead attorney, Steven Lieberman, “this is an important and historic victory for all of those throughout the United States who have ancestors buried in traditional cemeteries that have since been obliterated, destroyed, paved over or converted to other uses. Judge Smith’s brilliant and thorough analysis, will pave the way for similar actions throughout the country that will ensure justice for those in our society who are most helpless—those who have passed away and rely on others to protect the sanctity of their eternal rest.”

The African American community cautiously hopes that the County’s Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) will now abandon its illegal efforts to sell the remains of African ancestors in violation of Maryland law.

’ “Judge Smith’s ruling confirms that Africans and their descendants have rights to their humanity, to the remains of their ancestors and dignity., said Rev. Segun Adebayo, Pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church."

“We cannot let the County ignore the wishes of our community,” according to Mia Carmel, a BACC organizer, “and let developers and politicians decide how to memorize our ancestors. This community has been impacted by the violence of white supremacy for 370 years,” she said. “Meanwhile, our Beloved Community remains very much alive in us, and we must decide how our community is to be memorialized, after so many years of disrespect and desecration.”

Judge Smith wrote in her 60-page decision, "The Court cannot ignore that Plaintiffs, African Americans, are seeking to preserve the memory of their relatives and those with whom they share a cultural affiliation," she wrote. "Nor can the Court ignore that as early as the 1930s when construction began in the River Road community, the deceased have been forgotten, forsaken and their final resting places destroyed or, at a minimum, desecrated [BACC emphasis.]"

In response to Judge Smith’s decision, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, issued a statement regarding the preliminary injunction, “This court victory that delays the sale of Moses Cemetery is justice, but it is justice that was too long delayed and still is temporary. Millions of acres of Black-owned land have been stolen, much of it in the last 50 years. Someone somewhere makes money off that land, and it’s past time that groups follow the lead of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition and reclaim their past. And not only that, but recoup the monetary loss because the land lost and the lives lost are worth more than sentimental value.”

Last week, Attorney Benjamin Crump weighed in on social media in support of the fight to save Moses African Cemetery. He said, “Below a parking lot lies an early 20th century burial ground of hundreds of freed slaves and their descendants. Developers are trying to sell this land and could destroy the final pieces of their existence. We must preserve this historic Black gravesite and honor the deceased.”

The victory won in Bethesda is important, not just for those living in Maryland, but for all of those throughout the United States who have ancestors buried in cemeteries that have since been obliterated, destroyed, paved over or converted to parking lots, apartment buildings, strip malls and dog parks. This may be the first time that a small community group has stopped a nearly $60 million development project from proceeding in order to protect an African Burial ground.

The KKK modus operandi was to desecrate African graves in the dead of night with their faces covered. Montgomery County, Maryland, hoped to desecrate in broad daylight, under the thinly veiled cover of a legal permit with the tacit blessings of “liberal” leaders, such as County Executive Marc Elrich.

The Coalition issued a statement after the court ruling, saying “BACC has won both a temporary injunction and now a preliminary injunction.” No one predicted that a small community group could prevail over one of the wealthiest counties in the United States and a multi-million dollar development empire. For the first time, African ancestors who had no voice while they were alive were heard in an American courtroom through testimony by their descendants -- and they won! A circuit judge has halted the sale of Moses Macedonia Cemetery.”

Maryland State Delegate Gabriel Acevero, speaking at a conference Saturday on International Conference on Black Stolen Lands, Desecration of Burial Grounds and Healing from MAAFA said: “Too often we think that because we live in a ‘progressive’ enclave in the suburbs of Washington, DC,” “that things like this don’t take place. But it is very much happening. And so, we have to organize ourselves.”

Acevero recalled that colonial Maryland provided the first law that insisted that “No person of African descent will benefit from the rights of white society,” which became a model for the Slave Codes used throughout the United States. The Conference called for legislation that will impose criminal charges against developers and government officials that engage in desecration of African burial sites.

Chairman Omali Yeshitela, founder of the Uhuru Movement and Chair of the African People’s Socialist Party, emphasized that the fundamental issue confronting the conference was the question of who controls land that is linked directly to political power. He pointed out that throughout the Black world, Africans are fighting with colonial powers to maintain their control over African peoples, through their control over land and natural resources that sustain life. He urged conference participants to engage in political struggle that breaks colonial ties and advances self-determination of African people.

Dr. Marsha Adebayo is author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated: No FEAR: A Whistleblowers Triumph over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA. She worked at the EPA for 18 years and blew the whistle on a US multinational corporation that endangered South African vanadium mine workers. Marsha's successful lawsuit led to the introduction and passage of the first civil rights and whistleblower law of the 21st century: The Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (No FEAR Act). Marsha was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame, March 2017. She is one of the hosts of Pacifica’s WPFW FM – What’s at Stake radio show.

Moses African Cemetery

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