The proposed structure would be within the footprint of a historic African-American cemetery, which has been covered over with asphalt and fill. Eyewitnesses say the cemetery was desecrated by construction workers building Westwood Tower in the late 1960s. According to an eyewitness I spoke to, after halting construction 12 times as they encountered 12 individual graves, someone gave the order to illegally relocate an unknown number of remains to land adjacent to the cemetery plot. The perpetrators "hoped that this crime against humanity would never be discovered," MBC said in a press release announcing Sunday's march.
There has been concern during the Westbard sector plan process that the cemetery not be further disturbed. MBC church leaders have also said the desecration should be investigated, and the appropriate parties be held accountable for their actions. This would require completion of a cemetery delineation, which likely will employ ground-penetrating radar and excavation.
The Little Falls Watershed Alliance last week announced that Equity One had hired local firm Ottery Group to complete a cemetery delineation, and that Macedonia Baptist Church would be a party to that effort. However, MBC officials are now saying they were tricked by County planners and Equity One, who had assured them the Sketch Plan would not be ruled on before the cemetery delineation was complete.
With the Sketch Plan instead remaining on-schedule for the 23rd, MBC members - many of whom are descendants of the African-American community that once thrived on River Road before developers moved in - say they will now march in protest. "We are aware of the challenges that we face and we are not
fearful," MBC Interim Pastor the Rev. Segun Adebayo said yesterday. Noting that Equity One is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and is worth about $3.1 billion, Adebayo added, "As a community of faith, we know who won the fight between David and Goliath."
MBC will be supported by numerous community organizations and residents in their protest and fight, including the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Save Westbard, and the Montgomery County NAACP.
Rev. Nancy Ladd, Senior Minister of the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation, yesterday called the past and currently-proposed desecration of the cemetery site "the continuation of the march of white supremacy. It illuminates once again our society’s blatant disregard for Black life, even Black life in the grave." "Black Lives Matter in life as well as death," MoCo NAACP President Linda Plummer said in a separate statement Wednesday. "The continued
plunder of the River Road African burial ground is indefensible and against all norms of civilization."
Harvey Matthews, an MBC trustee who grew up playing amongst the graves in the cemetery, said his family members "were disrespected in life, and now desecrated in death." His family's home once stood where Whole Foods Market is today on River Road. The protest march will pause in front of Whole Foods on Sunday to pay respects to the Matthews family.
Come on out Sunday, and pass along the word to everyone you know. Share this on social media. Let's have a massive turnout. Parking could be an issue, so keep in mind the T2 Metrobus goes right past the church on River Road from the Friendship Heights and Rockville Metro stations (although look for a Ride On bus, because they are often used in place of WMATA buses on weekends). The Capital Crescent Trail crosses River Road near the church, for those arriving by bike or on foot.
Nice to know that Westbard is transit-friendly.
ReplyDeleteAnd bike- and pedestrian-friendly, too, especially now that dangerous crossing at Little Falls Parkway has been made safer.
ReplyDeleteI think the city should give Equity One money for the hassle of having to remove these bodies - maybe some TIF or something
ReplyDeleteDidn't the developer ever watch Poltergeist?
ReplyDelete6:30: It's a transit desert. Barebones T2 and Route 23 with limited hours of operation.
ReplyDeleteTransit desert = Potomac. No service at all for most of it.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, no carpetbagger reporter at a competing news outlet is writing "a better report" - I'm the one who originally researched and brought to light both the African American community, and the cemetery, at "Westbard." This was way back in 2011.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it way past your bedtime, Dyer?
ReplyDelete8:44: You're the one asleep at the switch while I report all the big stories. What is it like to be a child trapped in a "man's" body? Do tell! A mental midget is what you are.
DeleteThe staff at Bethesda Magazine never insult their readers, nor do they spend hours venting their weird resentments.
ReplyDelete9:45: You're a troll, not a reader.
DeleteWithout "trolls", as you call them, you'd have at most one reader.
ReplyDelete@9:45AM Please STFU.
ReplyDelete"spend hours venting their weird resentments" is exactly what you're doing here anonymously every day, during your office hours. Don't project your issues on Dyer.
@10:17 AM Yes, Dyer has one reader. You've uncovered the secret. Just one reader. lol. You know you sound nuts to all of the people in Bethesda reading that claim.
Dyer heads off to bed, and #LoneReader magically shows up.
ReplyDelete11:12: Your guys sleep through all the big news that I'm breaking on this website. There are thousands of "lone readers" on this website every day, and they all think you sound like a complete idiot right now.
Delete11:12AM Another frustrating day at the office and now you're taking it out on Robert Dyer.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the argument that Dyer should be quiet while Steve Hull and his magazine staff plagiarises Dyer's reporting. That's considered theft.
ReplyDeleteDyer has every right to demand what his fellow journalists demand.
The ARLnow guy flipped out when ABC7 plagiarized his Roslyn phantom dog pooper story. I didn't hear a peep of criticism.
Montgomery County researched the history of Westbard while preparing the sector plan and was aware that one or more cemeteries might have been located on the site.
ReplyDeleteDespite this, the County did not require developers to conduct investigations and remove any human remains as a condition of predevelopment approvals-- although they did set a requirement for "historic signage".
While Maryland law requires reburial as a condition of development, the County should have shown more sensitivity on the matter of possible graveyards at Westbard. This does not speak well of the Planning Department and the Planning Board.
5:49: Agreed. Roger Berliner's letter begging for mercy from the Planning Board on the cemetery issue is laughable, when you remember he voted for the Westbard sector plan without adding firm requirements on cemetery issues.
DeleteAlso, the Planning Department actually did zero research in their initial sector plan preparations. Their statement in 2014 on the history of "Westbard" claimed it was unpopulated before the railroad came through, and contained nothing about the African American community, nor the cemetery. The original historical advisor never showed up once during the weeklong charette events (and was the same guy who giggled when he told the planning board there was nothing historical whatsoever about the industrial area in 2011, when I presented extensive evidence of black and Native American history during hearings on the Little Falls Place development).
ReplyDeleteOnly after I ripped the fake history did one of the planners reach out to me for more information to create a more accurate historical background for the plan. And the cemetery has never been made a priority or taken seriously by County officials, or there would have been strong language in the plan.
Dyer: "You're a troll, not a reader."
ReplyDeleteWRONG!! Many of the "readers" are also trolls. What, you think the trolls don't read first? That's just too silly to imagine. It's not exclusive.