From: Coalition To Save Historic Thoroughfare <savehistoricthoroughfare@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 12:03 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Frank Washington, Savehistoricthoroughfare@gmail.com, 702-812-4174 Qasim Rashid, qrashid@loriumlaw.com, (630) 709-8040
Va. Coalition Calls for Federal Hate Crime Probe of Ongoing Desecration of Historic African-American, Native American Cemetery
(THOROUGHFARE, VA, 4/24/23) – The Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare today called on the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to investigate reported ongoing desecration of an African-American and Native American cemetery in Thoroughfare, Va., as a possible hate crime. They further requested an investigation into alleged Color of Law Violation by Prince William County officials under Title 18, U.S.C. Section 242.
[NOTE: The Coalition is represented by the Lorium Law Firm Attorneys Jennifer Gordon and Qasim Rashid. Please refer all legal inquiries to jgordon@loriumlaw.com, qrashid@loriumlaw.com]
As stated in the summary listed on the DOJ website: “Section 242 of Title 18 makes it a crime for a person acting under color of any law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
“For the purpose of Section 242, acts under ‘color of law’ include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within their lawful authority, but also acts done beyond the bounds of that official’s lawful authority, if the acts are done while the official is purporting to or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties…”
According to the Coalition, the county’s inaction is fueling these alleged crimes.
The historic Scott Cemetery sits on land purchased by The Farm Brewery at Broad Run. It is the resting place of slaves, freed slaves, freedmen/freedwomen, and Indigenous people.
In a letter to Louis Lopez, Chief Policy and Strategy Section Civil Rights Division, Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare representative Frank Washington said in part:
“It seems as if we have stepped back in time to a place where Black and Indigenous bodies of our dead, who have already suffered so, are being sold and displaced once again. While we, their ancestors, feel the sting of racism and attacks at the hands of those who feel privileged and corrupt officials.”
Recently, The Prince William Board of County Supervisors agreed to purchase a two-acre parcel to protect the family cemeteries of the Thoroughfare. HOWEVER, the County then took away the family cemeteries by stripping the Thoroughfare community of their entire burial rights to these cemeteries, no longer allowing them to be buried alongside their ancestors as they have done for centuries.
IN A STATEMENT: Frank Washington says, “When it comes to slave, freed slave and Native American cemeteries in Thoroughfare, this County seems to be in the business of bringing back the horrid experience of selling and owning Black/Indigenous bodies. Ripping them from their families. Telling us we can no longer rest with our family because they own our resting place now. Allowing the continual threats to my family. We had to painfully and helplessly watch the flames glowing in the night from the firepit from a portion of the Scott Cemetery. There is no longer a final resting place for people of color, our family, anywhere in Thoroughfare.”
BACKGROUNDER:
Thoroughfare is an historic Native American and African-American community with roots going back hundreds of years. Originally a Native American community, during the 1800s African-Americans began to settle there and a vibrant mixed-race community was established. Today, Thoroughfare is centered around Oakrum Baptist Church, and the descendants of the founders still call Thoroughfare home.
When developers purchased land containing the three major Thoroughfare cemeteries and, early in 2021, destroyed the Scott Cemetery, blocked access to the Potters Field Cemetery, and threatened the Fields/Allen Cemetery with development, the Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare formed to protect the cemeteries and to preserve the history of Thoroughfare.
SEE: Prince William Co. approves historic district land purchase for future park
Since The Farm Brewery at Broad Run purchased the Scott property through an alleged questionable tax sale, they have repeatedly bulldozed, graded, and landscaped the cemetery. Currently it is trying to claim that the Scott Cemetery does not even exist, despite ample records of its existence.
SEE: Historic Scott Cemetery in Thoroughfare in limbo
In 1966, the Scott Cemetery was listed on a USGS map. In the late 1990s, the cemetery was listed by Prince William County as containing 75 to 100 graves.
According to Frank Washington, representing the Thoroughfare Community, “Slaves, freed slaves, freedmen/freedwomen, and Native-Americans who worked and lived on the land of Thoroughfare, are under the threat of having their final sacred resting places in other areas of Thoroughfare decimated or completely removed by encroaching developers as well.” One of these reported areas of Native American gravesites has recently met that fate due to the inaction of the County to protect them.
Virginia’s governor recently signed two bills introduced by local Del. Danica Roem designed to prevent future issues like those occurring at Thoroughfare.
SEE: Youngkin signs several Prince William County-specific bills
Video: Virginia Group Works to Save Historic African-American, Native American Cemeteries
The town of Thoroughfare was established and settled by freed African-American slaves and Native Americans. Homes and family cemeteries in this community date back to 1860 and earlier.
Descendants of freed slaves and Native-Americans still live in Thoroughfare.
Slaves, freed slaves, freedmen/freedwomen, and Native-Americans who worked and lived on the land of Thoroughfare, Va., are under the threat of having their final sacred resting places decimated or completely removed by encroaching developers. Family members are also being denied access to many of these graves.
Historic freed slave homes, land and structures are under the same threat of destruction and at risk of being lost.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Video: Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare – A Town Under Siege
https://www.facebook.com/104115108438832/videos/762944897756999
Video: Community Fights to Save Historic Cemeteries from Development (NBC4)
A small Virginia town fights to save historic cemeteries of former slaves (WTOP)
‘Even in death, they have to fight for a name’ (Prince William Times)
Coalition tries to preserve historic western Prince William cemeteries
In Virginia, a historic Black neighborhood grapples with development (Washington Post)
The race to save African-American cemeteries from being ‘erased’ (Reuters)
###