Bethesda Black cemetery advocates enraged by concrete pour at construction site

Controversy continues to swirl around the construction of a self-storage building on a plot of land directly adjacent to the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. Advocates for the cemetery, including the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, have raised concerns about possible skeletal remains and funerary objects they say they have observed being excavated and trucked away from the site. A renowned expert on African-American burial grounds asked Montgomery County officials if he could examine the items in question, but was denied access, and the excavated materials remain locked in a warehouse at an undisclosed location in Virginia. Elected officials at the local, state and federal levels have declined to intervene in the remains controversy, and advocates' outrage only increased this week when concrete was poured over the site, which is located behind the McDonald's restaurant on River Road.

The construction site was not officially part of the cemetery, which is hidden under two parking lots behind Westbard Tower on Westbard Avenue, the construction of which in the late 1960s desecrated many graves. However, the concern has been that boundaries of many Black cemeteries have historically been poorly defined, and that remains have sometimes been buried beyond the formal property lines. Those concerns were heightened after observers associated with BACC claimed to have seen items being unearthed that resembled bones, headstones, and other funerary objects. The self-storage business has its own credentialed archaeological expert, who was said to have examined these materials, and concluded they were not human bones. Advocates want to know why, if this is true, they cannot have access to the materials for independent review.

County officials and law enforcement have sided with the conclusions of the self-storage team, and say no law is being broken. As construction advances, emotions are also rising among cemetery activists and the descendant community.

"We have been robbed in the Black River Road community," Harvey Matthews, a former resident of the community said. "Our land was stolen. My father and grandfather were nearly beaten to death by the KKK. I was beaten by the KKK. In the 1950s, Montgomery County poured cement to build a parking lot over the bodies of Black people. Now in 2024, Montgomery County and developers have poured cement over the bodies of black people, again, to hide the bones of our ancestors that they found and stole. These are monsters!"

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, President of BACC, vowed to keep up the political pressure on elected officials at all levels. "In the coming weeks, leading up to the commemoration of Juneteenth, BACC will lead demonstrations, rallies, and other events to demand justice for our ancestors and criminal prosecution of those involved in this heinous crime," she said. "Every Wednesday at 4:00 PM, community members [will] gather at Moses to bring attention to this crime against humanity."