One of the first cemeteries for Black Americans in the Los Angeles area was recently the site of a mass theft, according to police officials.
On the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, over 100 plates were stolen from the Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery in Carson, according to a report by NBC Los Angeles. A bronze plaque dating back to 1944 was also stolen from the cemetery.
The plaque was reportedly placed in the resting place by professional boxer Joe Louis to commemorate the fallen Black soldiers who fought in World War II. An attempt was also made to steal the 1934 Abraham Lincoln bust near the plaque.
Considered one of the few burial sites for Black American veterans, the cemetery is the burial site of approximately 40,000 people whose deaths date back to the 1800s.
With the recent thefts, to protect the history, the community will meet to raise funds for the hiring of security guards and staff to protect and look after the cemetery.
“It’s just terrible, 1944,” said volunteer Aisha Woods, who discovered the thefts, per a statement to NBC. According to Woods, the plaques’ purpose was to honor “fallen soldiers that were disrespected everywhere else but still fought to make this world, especially the U.S., a better place for me, being African-American, and everybody else of diversity for who they were fighting for.”
Volunteers who help run Lincoln Memorial Park in Carson were left speechless after thieves and vandals hit the cemetery over the weekend. 💔
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) January 17, 2024
"I'm extremely upset. I'm hurt, because it's like the equivalent of stepping on my mother's grave," said Aisha Woods. pic.twitter.com/mqZ0SseL6x
The Lincoln Memorial Park cemetery volunteers’ fight to preserve the remaining Black history of the cemetery comes amid the announcement that legal action is being taken to maintain the history of another Atlanta cemetery.
Announced yesterday, a new lawsuit was recently filed by the descendants of those buried at Buckhead Piney Grove Cemetery, one of the most historically significant burial sites for Black Americans in Atlanta.
Filed by sisters Rhona Jackson and Audrey Collins, they allege that the homeowners association that was charged with managing the cemetery is neglecting the site, allowing vegetation to grow and preventing any volunteers from attempting to clean it themselves.
By leaving the cemetery inaccessible due to trash, vegetation and fallen trees, officials are claiming that the history of the site is in danger.
“Within the Piney Grove Cemetery are stories of those too often not told,” said the leaders of the Friends of Piney Grove Cemetery per the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “We want the cemetery and the people buried there to be treated with dignity and allow future generations to appreciate the important connection the cemetery has to the history of Atlanta.”
