Judge Halts Sale Of Apartment Complex Where Freed Black Slaves Were Buried
A Maryland judge halted the sale of an apartment complex that was used as burial ground for freed Black slaves.
The Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission’s (MCHOC) $50 million sale of Westwood Towers in Bethesda was facing a lawsuit from the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition.
NBC News reports that the coalition pointed out that the Moses Cemetery was paved over with asphalt for a parking for apartment construction in the 1960s.
“Regardless of whether Charger decides to keep the parking lot, build on the lot, or dig up the lot, bodies of African Americans remain there,” the judge wrote, adding that “the Court has an obligation to ensure that such resting place is respected.”
Harvey Matthews recently testified that when he was a child he saw at least 200 grave markers before they were destroyed during construction of the Westwood Tower.
“They were finding body parts — arms, legs,” he said, adding if more construction happened today more “body parts will jump up at you like popcorn.”
Judge Karla Smith of the Montgomery County Circuit Court emphasized that it was of importance to hear from the family members of those buried on the land and community members
“The Court cannot ignore that Plaintiffs, African Americans, are seeking to preserve the memory of their relatives and those with whom they share a cultural affiliation,” she added. “Nor can the Court ignore that as early as the 1930s when construction began in the River Road community, the deceased have been forgotten, forsaken and their final resting places destroyed or, at a minimum, desecrated.”