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."
Speakers will include Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, President of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition; broadcaster Garland Nixon; African People's Socialist Party Chair Omali Yeshitela; WPFW-FM Program Director Katea Stitt; Hands Off Uhuru Fightback Coalition Chair Mwezi Odom; artist Yulong Jones of the International Women's Alliance; John McCarthy of the Center for Political Innovation; and a recorded message from Mumia Abu-Jamal. Cultural performances will feature Luci Murphy, Shirmina Geneva, and the Malcolm X Drummers.
This year's march is being co-sponsored by the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, and the Hands Off Uhuru! Hands Off Africa! Fightback Committee. Registration for the march is available online.
