🧵
As a human rights lawyer I've supported refugees, asylees, incarcerated citizens, abuse survivors, & the religiously persecuted
Today I share a client story—a Black & Indigenous Christian community whose ancestral cemetery was sold & desecrated—& our fight to get it back
/1
As a human rights lawyer I've supported refugees, asylees, incarcerated citizens, abuse survivors, & the religiously persecuted
Today I share a client story—a Black & Indigenous Christian community whose ancestral cemetery was sold & desecrated—& our fight to get it back
/1
Tl:dr Prince William County improperly sold the Scott Cemetery & property—an ancestral cemetery of Black & Indigenous people—to a wealthy land developer & stood by as they desecrated 100+ graves. We're suing to return that property & need your support gofundme.com/f/save-histori…
/2
/2
Full: The Coalition for Thoroughfare traces its ancestry back centuries. In Virginia history, Black & Indigenous found allyship together—intermarrying, worshiping, & burying their dead together. Denied their humanity, they found comfort in building community with each other.
/3
/3
Due to Jim Crow, redlining, & disenfranchisement, their lands were divided, records removed and 'lost,' & sold to wealthy (usually white) land developers w/o knowledge or consent.
Sadly, that’s what happened at the Scott property & Cemetery which held ~100 ancestral graves
/4
Sadly, that’s what happened at the Scott property & Cemetery which held ~100 ancestral graves
/4
Prince William County sold the Scott cemetery to a wealthy land developer. We did our best to negotiate out of court for its return. My clients were willing to forego everything else—but simply wanted to be able to honor their ancestors in peace & be buried among them. But—
/5
/5
despite the unauthorized sale, the land developer first promised to protect the cemetery. Then unannounced, he bulldozed it—destroying ~100 ancestral graves. This was horrifying & painful beyond words. Initially PWC took responsibility & pledged publicly to make it right...
/6
/6
...but the land developer blocked access to the cemetery w/a gate & boulder. He received 3 citations for not having permits for land disturbance—each was later dropped for yet unknown reasons. The developer then promised to work w/PWC & my client to restore the cemetery...
/7
/7
...& PWC called the desecration a travesty, pledging strong protections to ensure no further development w/o thorough archaeological investigations of Thoroughfare. PWC & the developer even began initial talks & plans to restore the desecrated cemetery. This was short lived…
/8
/8
...B/c unsurprisingly, the land developer inexplicably began to desecrate the cemetery—Again. But PWC would protect us, right? Nope. PWC refused to stop the developer—who now claimed that no such cemetery ever existed—despite records of its existence dating to the 1800s.
/9
/9
And painfully, the desecration of the Scott cemetery continues to this day. PWC pledged oversight of the area but relinquished that oversight for some unknown reason. And despite several requests to the land developer to cease its movements, the desecration continues. So...
/10
/10
We engaged in good faith negotiations & spoke with PWC attorneys & members of the Board of Supervisors. They admitted they messed up in not recording the cemetery properly as tax exempt. I was ecstatic that they admitted fault & hoped they'd negotiate to make things right.
/11
/11
Sadly, PWC would not discuss any return of the Scott Cemetery. Strangely they refused to give any reason why. Negotiations collapsed. So, the Coalition instructed me to file a lawsuit against PWC as well as the land developer to protect this Black & Indigenous community.
/12
/12
We've now filed suit. We're facing a well funded County that admits fault but won’t be accountable, & a well funded developer who is pretending no cemetery ever existed. We need public support for our legal fees.
In 2022 the erasure of Black & Indigenous people continues.
/13
In 2022 the erasure of Black & Indigenous people continues.
/13
On #IndigenousPeoplesDay no less, we need the public to rally behind this Black & Indigenous Christian community to ensure we have the resources to return their ancestral cemetery to them.
This is a foundational human rights issue. gofundme.com/f/save-histori…
/14
This is a foundational human rights issue. gofundme.com/f/save-histori…
/14
In closing—how enraging that in 2022 Black & Indigenous people are fighting for their humanity & the humanity of their ancestors—who themselves were denied their humanity for centuries.
We won't stop fighting. We need your support. Please donate.❤️
gofundme.com/f/save-histori…
15/15
We won't stop fighting. We need your support. Please donate.❤️
gofundme.com/f/save-histori…
15/15
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
　
