The groups working to preserve a historic Black cemetery in Bethesda are going to continue their legal fight, and plan to take it to Maryland’s highest court.
The move comes after a decision by Maryland’s appellate court that found the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission can sell the parcel where the remains of hundreds of enslaved people are buried, despite the objections of the groups trying to preserve the property.
“If this ruling is upheld on appeal, no traditional African American cemetery, no traditional Native American cemetery will be safe,” said Steven Lieberman, a lawyer who represents the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, Dr. Segun Adebayo, pastor of the Macedonian Baptist Church, and three descendants of people buried in the Moses Macedonia African Cemetery.
Lieberman told WTOP that a previous ruling that stopped the sale of the property was correct. Lieberman explained that Maryland law requires that when a landowner wants to sell land that includes burial grounds, the land owner cannot build or sell the land for another purpose without getting a greenlight from a “court of equity” that notifies anyone who may have interest in the case.
He said that includes “descendants of people who are buried in the burial ground, and then the court decides if the sale can take place, and if so, under what conditions.”
Bottom line, said Lieberman, “Who else is going to protect the dead, except the courts?” He added, “the purpose of the statute was to provide the appropriate respect and dignity for people who are buried.”
The Housing Opportunities Commission responded to questions from WTOP with a statement, saying “the decision of the Appellate Court of Maryland confirms that HOC has properly observed the laws which protect burial grounds in Maryland.”
The statement went on to say the HOC’s involvement with the property “has been in service of our mission to provide affordable housing to low and moderate income residents of Montgomery County and that continues to be our priority moving forward.”
The HOC added that it “acknowledges the significance of the African American history affiliated with this site and will continue to respect and honor this legacy in the community.”
Lieberman, a partner at the law firm Rothwell Figg, told WTOP, that he’ll be filing for the case to be heard before the Maryland Supreme Court “in the next few weeks.”
