Showing posts with label slaves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slaves. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Atlanta Slave Grave Site to Landfill Controversy Happened In Baltimore

CNN's Rick Sanchez is thankfully focusing on a story in Atlanta where a slave grave site is planned to be moved to make way for a landfill site for trash.


I'm not kidding.  


And Sanchez is right that this happens more in the South than anywhere else.  For example, I uncovered this story in Baltimore as far back as 1996:


The Sun - Baltimore, Md.
Author:Sherrie Ruhl
Date:Feb 11, 1996
Start Page:2.B
Section:METRO
Text Word Count:715
 Abstract (Document Summary)
A landfill, with the accompanying rattle of dump trucks, and dust, dirt and debris, would bring the end of the church, Mrs. [Violet Hopkins-Tann] said. "Who is going to want to attend this church or live in this community if there's a landfill here?"
The cemetery is adjacent to a 100-foot gravel pit that would be part of the Maryland Reclamation landfill, running west along Gravel Hill from Earlton Road near Havre de Grace.
Mrs. Tann said she believes Maryland Reclamation proposed a landfill at the site in part because much of the community is African-American and poor. "They think if they wait long enough, we'll give up. Well, that's not going to happen," she said.

Why this happens in the South is anyone's guess.  But it certainly must stop.