The Jan. 9 Metro article “Md. Supreme Court hears dispute over cemetery” reported on a Maryland Supreme Court case that could determine the fate of a historic African American cemetery that lies under the parking lot of an apartment tower in Bethesda. I live within walking distance of the site, so the issue feels personal.
The Moses Macedonia African Cemetery was the sacred resting place of Black residents and their ancestors, some formerly enslaved. In the 1960s, developers paved it over for a parking lot. Bodies remain under the asphalt — an ongoing desecration. The Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) owns the land and is trying to sell it to a developer without court approval or input from the descendant community, contrary to established case law. To protest this sale, the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition successfully took the case all the way to the state’s highest court. As a coalition supporter, I was in the packed courtroom to hear the arguments.
The HOC disingenuously argued that this is merely a matter of property rights and says it has “no plans to disturb” the land. For the descendant community, the sale of this land puts Black bodies on the auction block once again — with dire implications for Black cemeteries everywhere. Descendants want to restore the cemetery and create a place of remembrance. The county could make this happen and set a shining example of racial justice and healing. That’s a place I’d be proud to call home.
Lisa Moore, Bethesda