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Historical Remains To Be DNA Tested

Historical Remains To Be DNA Tested

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by: SugarLandDotCom Active Indicator LED Icon 8 Site Admin  OP 
~ 5 years ago   Sep 12, '18 3:06pm  
 
The recently appointed City Manager's Task Force on the Convict Lease Memorial met for the first time on September 5, and unanimously supported DNA testing of historical remains discovered on property owned by Fort Bend Independent School District.
 
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The task force requested the preparation of a letter formalizing their support for DNA testing, which will be sent to the Texas Historical Commission by Fort Bend ISD. Community and stakeholder support will be part of the commission's decision on whether teeth will be removed from each person buried in the school district's unmarked grave for future DNA testing.

"We had an engaged, diverse group of stakeholders participate," said City Manager Allen Bogard. "All together, we had a little more than 30 people in attendance at the meeting."

The vote to support DNA testing occurred after presentations on DNA sampling from Dr. Catrina Whitley, a bioarcheologist, and Cultural Resources Director Reign Clark, of Goshawk Environmental Consulting.
 
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The task force will continue to work during the next six months to provide a recommendation on the interment, memorialization and ceremonial funeral details of historical remains discovered on property owned by Fort Bend Independent School District. The work of the task force will be important once an agreement is finalized for the future relocation of the remains.

"This task force is the best vehicle to garner community, educator and stakeholder consensus for re-interment at the Old Imperial Prison Cemetery," said Bogard. "The task force understands that a consensus will be needed for a re-interment plan and memorialization before a formal agreement can be considered by City Council. Based on our first meeting, I believe they are committed to working collaboratively to achieve this very important goal."

The meetings are open to the public and will be held on the first and third Wednesday of each month for the first two months and then one Wednesday a month thereafter.

Those in attendance included the city of Sugar Land, Fort Bend ISD, the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation, the Fort Bend Historical Commission, the Texas Historical Commission, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Houston Area Urban League, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Embassy Church, Rice University Professor Caleb McDaniel and members of the Sugar Land community. Also in attendance was Reginald Moore, of the Texas Slave Descendants Society (a group now called the Convict Leasing and Labor Project).

For more about the city's cemetery and efforts to preserve, protect and honor the area's past, visit www.sugarlandtx.gov/ 1694/The-Imperial-Fa rm-Cemetery
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TheBigBadWolf Active Indicator LED Icon 8
~ 5 years ago   Sep 12, '18 3:17pm  
Great. It's a lot better than just assuming who they were.
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Bubbapie Active Indicator LED Icon 9
~ 5 years ago   Sep 12, '18 4:42pm  
Since I'm in the DNA database, I might find a long lost relative.
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SweetwaterBoss Active Indicator LED Icon 6
~ 5 years ago   Sep 13, '18 7:55am  
RIP
Before it is all over - it will cost a few million dollars.
Some lawyer is going to figure a way to sue the FBISD and the State of Texas. There will be class action lawsuit from any discovered descendants against the State of Texas.
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snv86 Active Indicator LED Icon 8
~ 5 years ago   Sep 13, '18 7:59am  
Will be interesting to see what they find out about these people.
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SLDad Active Indicator LED Icon 5
~ 5 years ago   Sep 13, '18 9:30am  
Developers....who sold the land containing the cemetery to FBISD receives so many corporate handouts from Sugar Land in terms of infrastructure built to support their development projects, and special tax incentives, that they really ought to cough up some money as a donation to the city or FBISD to cover some of these costs. Or perhaps someone should investigate to determine whether they knew about the cemetery before they sold the land to FBISD.
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SweetwaterBoss Active Indicator LED Icon 6
~ 5 years ago   Sep 13, '18 9:54am  
I think FBISD has already set the cost to be over $1 million in School Expenses for this project.
Expect it to go higher --- but there is no $$ for needed repairs at the schools.
Oh well --- the taxpayers can pay for the bill............
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SLDad Active Indicator LED Icon 5
~ 5 years ago   Sep 13, '18 10:16am  
Another example of how, in Sugar Land, the developers always win.
 
Another proud moment for the Mayor and City Council members , whom are financially supported by the developers.
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gary46 Active Indicator LED Icon  New Member
~ 5 years ago   Sep 13, '18 11:30pm  
There is absolutely no reason for Sugar Land to be involved in this mess. Those buried were prisoners of the State of Texas. The property was purchased by Fort Bend ISD. Where does our responsibility come in? How much money is the State of Texas going to pay toward this DNA testing? How much money is Fort Bend ISD going to pay for the DNA testing. And will it prove that the bodies once belonged to Murderers, rapists, child abusers, thieves, burglars, arsonists? And why in the world would any sane person want to build a memorial to criminals? They chose their lot in life. They knew what the consequences could be. This entire idea is pure folly and a waste of taxpayer money.
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SLDad Active Indicator LED Icon 5
~ 5 years ago   Sep 14, '18 8:39am  
After the Civil War, the rich and powerful sugar barons of the time, wanted their slaves back, but that not being possible, they did the next best thing. The prison leasing system was a way they could access cheap labor, but it needed a constant supply of fresh bodies. I think its pretty much accepted fact that the criminal justice system at the time was heavily biased against African Americans, who were often imprisoned for crimes like "vagrancy" or "loitering" in order to provide this labor. The Texas prison leasing system was corrupt, and designed to exploit prisoners, for the benefit of local businessmen. It was shut down after a series of investigations by newspapers proved that to be so. Its possible that those in the graves committed actual, serious crimes, and its equally possible that they were arrested on charges of "loitering" or "vagrancy" and forced to work for years in the sugar cane fields in order to provide cheap labor for others. Testing their DNA, figuring out who they were, and why they were incarcerated may help shed light on the whole era.
 
As I said.... I would prefer if this was not paid for by the City or State, but by the wealthy businessmen of Sugar Land who profited by the sale of the land to FBISD, and who benefit so greatly from special arrangements between themselves and the current City of Sugar Land. I am assuming that transferring the responsibility to the taxpayers of Sugar Land was their method of avoiding that responsibility.

www.texasmonthly.com /articles/sugar-land -slave-convict-labor -history/
 
www.nytimes.com/2018 /07/18/us/grave-conv ict-lease-texas.html
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Deacon_Blu Active Indicator LED Icon 2
~ 5 years ago   Sep 14, '18 9:08am  
As it was over 100 years ago -- the rich developers of Sugar Land are still making $$ from the graves of the poor convict laborers.
This time the Sugar Land Taxpayer are paying the bill for the rich land developers of Sugar Land.
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gary46 Active Indicator LED Icon  New Member
~ 5 years ago   Sep 15, '18 12:00am  
Hey Allen! How much will this cost the taxpayers?
 
Or maybe it will be no cost to Sugar Land because "Those in attendance included the city of Sugar Land, Fort Bend ISD, the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation, the Fort Bend Historical Commission, the Texas Historical Commission, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Houston Area Urban League, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Embassy Church, Rice University Professor Caleb McDaniel and members of the Sugar Land community. Also in attendance was Reginald Moore, of the Texas Slave Descendants Society (a group now called the Convict Leasing and Labor Project) will pick up the bill. Right?
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snoopy Active Indicator LED Icon 3
~ 5 years ago   Sep 15, '18 2:39am  
And why are we really doing all the testing for. Will any relatives claim these bodies and give them another burial. I doubt it. We will probably never find out who they are. Just bury them and let them Rest In Peace.
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SLDad Active Indicator LED Icon 5
~ 5 years ago   Sep 15, '18 8:37am  
It will likely cost a great deal less than the profits made off the backs of prisoners who were treated so badly. Sometimes you just have to do what's right. Let FBISD and the City sue the developer to discover whether they were aware of the presence of the cemetery prior to the sale....if so, they would be liable.... avoiding that possibility is the reason the City of Sugar Land is involved......protect the Developers at all costs.
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Deacon_Blu Active Indicator LED Icon 2
~ 5 years ago   Sep 16, '18 7:19am  
The state does not, however, outline how or where unearthed remains should be reburied, nor require that community members be involved in that decision.
Source : www.citylab.com/equi ty/2018/08/the-mass- grave-beneath-a-texa s-suburb/567586
 
What the law requires
In theory, Texas law should protect these heritage sites.
By law, once a cemetery or grave site is found, the property owner must be notified and the finding recorded with the county clerk.
 
If the cemetery is more than 50 years old and abandoned, the Texas Historical Commission takes jurisdiction over the site. It must consult with the dead's next of kin, and can require exhumation to be conducted noninvasively, using ground-penetrating radar.
 
The state does not, however, outline how or where unearthed remains should be reburied, nor require that community members be involved in that decision.
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Trump2020 Active Indicator LED Icon  New Member
~ 5 years ago   Oct 12, '18 3:24pm  
SLDad - You really should get your facts straight before posting. The city of SL never owned the property so please help me understand the city's legal liability. As an attorney, I see no viable cause of action against SL or any reason for the city to be involved as a plaintiff. Please clue me in on what I am missing here.
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