A bill designed to increase protections for African-American cemeteries in Maryland is a good start, but needs amendments, advocates say. HB-1099, introduced by Montgomery County delegate Al Carr, will receive a public hearing next Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 1:30 PM. Residents can provide their opinions on the bill during the virtual hearing by signing up online this coming Monday, February 22, 2021 between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM. Rules for testifying can also be found online.
As currently drafted, the bill would create a fund to finance the preservation of African-American cemeteries in the state. It would also fund a study of the obstacles and threats to such preservation.
The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition is suggesting four amendments to strengthen and expand the bill: the rights of African-American descendants to the remains of their ancestors and how their resting places will be memorialized and celebrated should be recognized; the bill should address the fact that many black cemeteries are no longer in the hands of the original black landowners, and now often in the hands of developers; create civil and criminal penalties for the desecration of black cemeteries; and elevate the status of descendant communities in the bill to be equal to that of developers, "white preservationist NGOs, [and] big-business cultural resources groups."
BACC notes that some of the organizations currently recognized in the bill have facilitated the desecration of Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. They should not, therefore, have the same status as the descendants of those buried in the cemetery, BACC argues.
3 comments:
Daily reminder: the alleged cemetery is on land originally owned by a Black benevolent society. It was sold fair and square years ago, and has changed many hands since then. The advocates should raise their complaints with the original seller, not the current owner. We respect private property rights in MD.
You may want to post this story on your Rockville site also, since there is at least one African American cemetery in the city of Rockville.
No amendments are needed to House Bill 1099. It is fine as filed and requires no specific demands.
As President Kennedy once observed, "A rising tide lifts all boats."
Eileen McGuckian, president
Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites, Inc.
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