Downtown Fayetteville in Cumberland County, North Carolina By Rayna Reid Rayford ·Updated February 20, 2024
The Hodges are one of the first Black families to own land in Cumberland County, NC, and they want people to stop illegally dumping in their family cemetery, “where both veterans and Black people born during slavery are buried,” ABC11 reports.
The Hodges Family acquired this land early in the 1900s and has been using it to bury its family members here since 1910.
Ken Slankard’s wife is one of the Hodges, and he is heartbroken over the trespassing and disrespect occurring on the family’s sacred burial grounds.
“Illegal dumping and littering throughout is causing problems because the trash ends up in the fields, the trash ends up in the cemetery,” said Slankard.
Cheri Leach, another member of the Hodges family said, “They can take whatever trash they want, dump it back there, and no one will see them.” She said that some of the dumpers may have been unaware about the graveyard, but “[s]ome people don’t care that there’s a graveyard there…It’s disgusting.”
This is a symbol of a larger environment justice issue. As one geographic journal article posits, “[a]Ctivists are…
