Civil rights leaders join fight to save Bethesda African-American cemetery at rally (Video + Photos)

About 200 people turned out for a rally at Macedonia Baptist Church yesterday, to protest the desecration of the historic African-American cemetery on the site of Westwood Tower in Bethesda. The fight against Montgomery County elected officials, developer Regency Centers and the County Housing Opportunities Commission was joined by several prominent civil rights leaders, representing several generations of activism.

WATCH: Click here for a full video report on the rally

The Rev. Walter Fauntroy was the headliner, and his presence underlined how unprecedented the uprising against the Montgomery County Executive, County Council, Planning Department and HOC by residents and faith leaders is. Who would have imagined even five years ago that the Rev. Fauntroy, who marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would one day march through the "Westbard" area in a protest against supposedly-progressive Montgomery County government? Nobody!

On a very cold afternoon, Fauntroy exhibited the energy of a man one-quarter of his age. He was the rare speaker who could speak authoritatively of past struggles and victories, but in another moment, sound like futurist Elon Musk, as he predicted his clean water and energy technology will change the world in as little as ten years. Fauntroy preached, prayed and marched throughout the three-and-half-hour event, at times shadowboxing or pumping his fist in response to another inspiring orator.

Another celebrity guest on hand was the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus. The Rev. Yearwood has just moved to Bethesda himself, after fighting against the system in post-Katrina New Orleans and Standing Rock. Yearwood suggested a boycott against businesses located in Regency Centers properties may be needed to move the needle in the development giant's boardroom, referring to past boycotts that had great success.

Montgomery County Councilmember
Marc Elrich was the only elected official
to accept an invitation to speak

Marc Elrich (D) was the only Montgomery County Councilmember and current elected official to accept an invitation to speak. Elrich, who is running for County Executive, tied the cemetery battle to other current instances of institutional racism in the County, including Farm Road and Lyttonsville. While Elrich has been the only councilmember to show any real solidarity with the church, he did vote for the Westbard sector plan that created the current threat to the cemetery in 2016. Robin Ficker, the Republican who will face the winner of the Democratic primary in the general election executive race, warmly greeted his old friend Fauntroy before delivering his own speech. Ficker promised that, if elected or otherwise given the opportunity, he would meet with Regency Centers. He would then have the doors to the room locked, he said, and tell Regency representatives they couldn't leave until they work out a deal to sell the cemetery land to the County.

The Rev. Graylan Hagler was an echo of a past preacher at Macedonia Baptist Church, whose sermons could be heard from the church's hill all the way down at the Milton-Loughborough House a century ago. In a booming voice, the Rev. Hagler got to the central issue of how identity and history can be used to control groups. Once you remove a people's historical narrative, "then you can justify doing anything you want to them," Hagler said. "There is, has been, and will be a place for the black community here in Bethesda, here in Montgomery County. We're not going anywhere," Hagler shouted to enthusiastic applause.

Music was provided by cultural activist Luci Murphy, the Youth of Macedonia choir, the Alphonso Coles Capitol Drum Collective and Eric Lewis Multicultural Drummers, and Congregation Beth El cantor Asa Fradkin. South African poet Siki Dlanga read a poem she was inspired to write by the Macedonia fight to save this cemetery, also referred to as the Moses Cemetery, called "Black Lives Matter, Dead or Alive."

Police did not provide traffic control for this march, which resulted in marchers having to shut down River Road themselves to get across to the cemetery site. Once there, the ritual pouring of libations was performed, as the names of some of those buried there were read aloud. A final and dramatic surprise guest was Nanette Hunter (maiden name Parker), the great niece of Cora Botts, who is buried in the cemetery. She said she was "overwhelmed" by the event and show of support from the community and faith leaders.

Rev. Graylan Hagler prepares
to address the rally

While HOC has relied on fake news suggesting they never planned to build a garage to change the narrative, they apparently don't realize we have multiple documents in which HOC demanded alterations in the Regency Centers site and sketch plans expressly to accommodate the parking garage on the graves. In fact, HOC's garage plan was one of the key controversies in Planning Board reviews of the sketch plan this year. So no one actually believes HOC can be trusted. And they also don't believe the cemetery should be left under asphalt, already being in a desecrated state after some of the graves were disturbed by workers excavating for Westwood Towers in the late 1960s. Macedonia and their supporters in the community want a memorial park and museum to preserve this direct link to the good, bad, and horrifying history of racism, slavery and the original black settlement of River Road.

Macedonia Baptist Church Social Justice
Director Marsha Coleman-Adebayo introduces
the Rev. Walter Fauntroy

One of the most intriguing aspects of the controversy, is that the Africans and African-Americans who are buried in the cemetery are, in a way, exercising power against the same forces who oppressed them in more overt ways over a century ago. It is their presence that is creating the power to fight a $14 billion corporation. And which may lead to reparations for the black families whose properties - which might be worth up to $1 million apiece today - were stolen by developers in the 1950s and early 1960s.

In this way, the act of dishonor in desecrating the cemetery has backfired, creating a rare scenario in which wrongs could be made right. As Dlanga's poem so correctly categorizes those below that parking lot, "We have been waiting to be woken up from a sleep. Our business on Earth is not yet done. We have been longing for an opportunity to state our case." That opportunity may now be here.

Fauntroy reacts to a powerful
statement by Rev. Hagler

The Youth of Macedonia choir 
performs on the church steps

MBC trustee and former River Road
resident Harvey Matthews, County Executive
candidate and attorney Robin Ficker, Coleman-Adebayo
and SURJ-MoCo's Laurel Hoa listen to
Fauntroy's speech

Matthews tells the crowd how his
family and others were forced off their
properties on River Road in the 1950s,
as Fauntroy embraces another former
resident of the lost black community

Congregation Beth El cantor Asa Fradkin
leads a song in Hebrew

Local historian David Rotenstein

Ficker promises, if elected, to lock Regency Centers
executives in a room and not let them out
until they agree to sell the cemetery plot
to Montgomery County, while embracing
old friend Fauntroy

The Rev. Lennox Yearwood warned
of a boycott of Westbard businesses
if Regency Centers doesn't do the right
thing regarding the cemetery

Marchers descend from the church
hill to River Road to walk to the
cemetery

The march begins, with MBC Pastor
Según Adebayo, former River Road resident
Frank Lancaster,
Fauntroy and Ficker leading the way

Marchers arrive at the cemetery in the
shadow of Westwood Tower

Yearwood leads an African
ritual pouring of libations, advising
those gathered to touch the earth to
connect with the ancestors below

South African poet Siki Dlanga
recited a powerful poem inspired
by the Moses Cemetery desecration
and fight

Mardokai Russom (center) of
the Multicultural Workers Forum
speaks

Carolyn Lowery represented
Impact Silver Spring at the
rally

River Road resident and
activist Ralph Wooden said
white privilege protects the
graves of his ancestors from
the kind of desecration that
has taken place at the
Moses cemetery

Former River Road resident
Frank Lancaster
recalls the close relationship
between his and Matthews' families

A last surprise guest was 
Nanette Hunter, the
great niece of Cora Botts, who
is buried in the cemetery

Marchers depart the cemetery
and make the climb up to
Westbard Avenue

With no police escort for this
protest, marchers detour down the
ramp at Westwood Center II for
safety reasons

In perhaps a symbolic moment, Matthews
halts Bethesda drivers on River
Road in front of the property that
once belonged to his family, so marchers can
safely cross; after the Matthews
were forced off the land, it eventually became
home to a Whole Foods Market

Matthews speaks at the site of his
former home, now home to Whole Foods

Rev. Adebayo thanks participants
as the rally concludes after 3 1/2 hours
of speeches, marching and honoring ancestors