Clayton NAACP Cares More About A Company Moving A Black Cemetery Than They Do About The Thugs That Are Filling Them Up

Plan to move graves rooted in racism, marchers say


We have to put this into perspective folks.
Clayton County Board - 100% Democrat
Clayton County Board - Majority Black

Clayton County board had to make the tough decision regarding a cemetery from a piece of commercial property and relocating the graves into a larger and active cemetery. The current cemetery is being encircled by the continuing expansion of the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The board decided - the protesters responded.

A nun, a veteran and about 25 civil rights activists marched through Jonesboro on Tuesday night, demanding the Clayton County Commission revoke its approval to relocate 311 African-American graves.

On Dec. 2, the commission voted to give a permit to a College Park recycling company, Stephens MDS, to dig up the graves — some possibly the resting place for slaves — and rebury them in a Riverdale cemetery.

Civil rights activists from the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Action Network and other organizations say the move is based in racism and greed.

“I don’t know any other race of people, including Indians, who have been moved because of money,” said Betty Bowden, 72, who says her grandfather is buried in the Union Bethel AME Church Cemetery.

The cemetery, which dates to the 1800s, sits in the shadows of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport’s fifth runway, lying between the Stephens MDS landfill and a quarry. The cemetery is inaccessible and had not been visited for years before news of the possible move was announced, Stephens MDS officials said.

After the march, about 25 people addressed the county commission and asked them to overturn the decision. Some asked for a grand jury investigation into the decision and accused the county commission of accepting bribes.

The company owner, John Stephens, has contributed to all five commissioners’ campaigns and has done business with the county.

“Clayton County has always been racist,” former state Sen. Gail Davenport told the commission. “We still have the Ku Klux Klan pulling the strings. … The only difference is they are not walking down Main Street in sheets like they did when I was a kid. They are in business suits today.”

Shawn Davis, a spokesman for Stephens MDS, said Stephens has contributed to elected officials from city councilmen to congressmen throughout the metro area.

District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson said she is still reviewing the request for an investigation by the families of those buried in the cemetery.

County attorney Michael Smith said the commission couldn’t overturn the decision because it is past a 30-day appeal period. Only a judge can halt the move now.

“As of now, they [Stephens MDS] have met all of the requirements of the state and county,” County Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell added.

The families have since filed a lawsuit to halt movement of the graves.

The Maynard Holbrook Jackson International Terminal at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport