Call a Meeting to Memorialize Bethesda African Cemetery!
Marc Elrich, Montgomery County Executive
.png)
We need your help! County Executive Marc Elrich made a campaign promise to help us get the Bethesda African Cemetery memorialized. The day after he was elected he spoke at the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) urging "an expeditious way to clear it up" and yet half a year later he has yet to call a meeting between HOC, the current owner of the cemetery, and Macedonia Baptist Church (MBC), the sole surviving institution from the River Road African community. Please send a letter to Executive Elrich urging him to take action to ensure memorialization of this sacred burial ground. This burial ground is the final resting place of first generation freed Africans and their descendants, who built River Road community in Bethesda. They deserve dignity and respect in death especially as they were denied it in life. Black ancestors matter!
Sponsored by
To:
Marc Elrich, Montgomery County Executive
From:
[Your Name]
I am writing to urge you to facilitate a meeting between the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) and Macedonia Baptist Church (MBC) immediately. This was a campaign promise, and yet 6 months into your term this important issue remains unresolved.
HOC has stated its intention to maintain the status quo of desecration of the sacred African burial ground on the back parking lot of their Westwood Tower property in Bethesda. HOC has repeatedly called the police on peaceful protesters who have attended their public meetings urging them to allow memorialization of Moses Cemetery. They have had peaceful protesters arrested, and the police have recently threatened a Black female member of the coalition with bodily harm. Your urgent action is needed to ensure the bodily safety of these protesters, as well as the bodily dignity of the people buried in that cemetery.
Please convene a meeting between HOC and MBC without further delay.