Members of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) passed out flyers and relayed their message through a megaphone that everyone should boycott Sunday’s Montgomery County’s Juneteenth celebration.
According to BACC President Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, the county should not be celebrating Black freedom when county officials allow the desecration of Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda and have a policy of systematic racism that targets the Black community.
Their message was “No Justice, No Montgomery County Juneteenth!”
Coleman-Adebayo accused County officials of “using the event for political gain.”
At the Scene
Many who attended the county event at BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown took the group’s flyer but rarely engaged. This MCM reporter did not see anyone turn around and leave the event featuring Black history, African clothing and arts, music and speakers.
County officials and police appeared to keep an eye on the 10 protesters, making sure they didn’t block the entrance to Blackrock.
“Basically, they are trying to intimidate us,” Coleman-Adebayo said. “We are trying to work with them, but we have an absolute right to be here.”
Claims of Cemetery Desecration
BACC members have spent years decrying construction where they believe the remains of “a sacred burial site of kidnapped and tortured Africans” lie.
BACC believes there were once 200 buried remains of African Americans, many of whom were slaves, at Moses Cemetery. They believe that more than 200 bones were “trafficked” from Moses Cemetery to a storage unit in Gainesville, Va.
Previously, County Executive Marc Elrich explained his belief that the land under Bethesda’s Westwood Tower Apartments parking lot on Westbard Avenue was a cemetery. However, abutting land containing a self-storage unit was not. That parcel shares a corner with the land adjacent to the Westwood Tower Apartments parking lot.
Both BACC and Elrich agree a cemetery did exist on land currently owned by the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County and the County Parks Department (Parcels 175 and 177). No new construction is underway there.
Charges of Racial Discrimination
Picketers on Sunday also said they were upset no county police officer has been charged for any deaths of Black me. They also assert homelessness in the County disproportionately affects Black residents.
They also stated Black youth in the county “are disproportionately criminalized” and “overrepresented in the County’s child welfare system,” according to the flyer they distributed.
One BACC member confronted Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe, using a megaphone to ask if she will support BACC.
“I am not going to answer,” she replied as she continued to stand by a table along with her staff.
On Juneteenth, BACC held its own Juneteenth celebration on River Road in Bethesda, near the Moses African Cemetery.
Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition members urged people to boycott Saturday's Montgomery County Juneteenth celebration, saying the county only pays lip service to racial equality. @mymcmedia @MoCoCouncilMD pic.twitter.com/z4Ih75LTA0
— suzanne pollak (@SuzannePollak) June 21, 2025
