Happy 96th Birthday Malcolm X: African Graves Matter

The Historic Protestant Dutch Reformed Protestant Church of Flatbush has a cherished legacy. Commissioned by Gov. Peter Stuyvesant in 1654, it is a National Landmark. It is also a landmark for historic tours, especially the church cemetery which is part of the church grounds on Flatbush & Church Avenue (Church Avenue is literally named after the church). The cemetery is populated with headstones engraved with the names of NYC elites: Vanderbilts, Lefferts, Livingston’s, etc., that are memorialized and toured – Stuyvesant and these elite families also owned African Slaves (New York was colonized by the Dutch (New Amsterdam) and owned more African Slaves than any northern state; these African Slaves were also New York’s #1 commodity) who built the church and the surroundings but when these African Slaves died, they were not buried in the church cemetery because of White Supremacy. African remains lie in what is now an overgrown lot on the corner of Bedford & Church Avenue. The #Justice1654 Coalition demands that the same sacred regard in which the White Dutch Reformed Church cemetery is held be afforded to the remains and bones of the enslaved Africans who were segregated as less than human even in their deaths.

“In the spirit of Malcolm X on what would’ve been his 96th Birthday – in this time of racial reckoning that is necessary for America to heal from her Original Sin – we are demanding that the overgrown lot on the corner of Bedford & Church Avenue be developed into an African Memorial Burial Ground. America must respect ALL Black People: the dead, the living and the unborn if we are ever to be ONE nation under God with liberty and justice for all. Therefore we must Desegregate the Dead. This memorial is the goal and mission of our coalition – #Justice1654. It would be thoroughly Un-Christian to do anything otherwise.” - Rev. Gregory Seal Livingston Founder & President of #EquanomicsGlobal.

Rev. Gregory Seal Livingston is Founder & President of the newly formed EquanomicsGlobal – A Civil Rights & Social Justice organization that promotes Racial Equality, Economic Justice and the Spiritual Uplift of All Peoples.

Some of the organizations he has led and served:

National Field Secretary and Chief of Field Operations for the RainbowPUSH Coalition; National Action Network – Illinois Director; Co-Founder of the Syria Faith Initiative; The Coalition for a New Chicago; The African American Leadership Commission (Gamaliel Foundation); Equanomics UK; National Resolutions Board – Progressive Baptist Convention; National Advisory Board of Walgreens; Westside Ministers Coalition of Chicago; The Westside Health Crisis Coalition; The Metropolitan Alliance of Congregations West (Gamaliel Foundation). He has also chaired several committees for the Illinois 7th Congressional District.