Montgomery County government allowing Moses African Cemetery to be a dumping ground for trash (Photos)

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition is again bringing attention to the illegal dumping of trash on the grounds of the already-desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. Both parcels of the hidden cemetery are currently owned by Montgomery County government entities: the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County, and the Montgomery Parks department. BACC is speaking out about trash recently dumped on the parcel owned by Montgomery Parks, including rolls of toilet paper, mattresses and discarded furniture. "The continued use of Moses Cemetery as a dumping ground by Montgomery County residents is a disturbing display of white supremacy and anti-Black racism, all with full backing and support from county officials," BACC said in a statement today. 

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."