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."
Are those the bones that were found at the burial site?
ReplyDeleteNo, they are prop bones symbolic of the bones trucked away from the site.
DeleteThank you.
Delete