A cemetery in Louisiana apologized for denying a local police officer’s burial just because he was black.
The Oaklin Springs Cemetery board met to change its existing sales contract after an outcry of the widow because her husband was denied burial due to the decades-old provision that allowed only white people to be buried in the cemetery.
Though the board said he was unaware of the policy that was being followed in the Oaklin spring cemetery, the rule has been in place since the 1950s because back then racial discrimination was legal.
Officer Darrell Semien’s widow said it was a “slap in the face” when she was denied a plot for her husband just “because he’s black”.
Mr Semien, 55, who was a local sheriff’s deputy, had served the police force for the past 15 years now. Also, he was a foster parent and raised 72 children in the past 16 years. He died due to cancer on Sunday.
When his widow Mrs Karla Semien and their children tried to buy a plot at Oaklin Springs, a staff member told them inconsiderably that it was a “whites only” graveyard.
Cemetery Board’s reaction
Mrs Semien in Facebook wrote how disturbing it was for her to find such rule still intact in 2021. She also shared the paperwork which clearly stated that the grounds are for the burial of whites only.
In her interview, Mrs Seimen told how hurt she was and felt this was a punch in the guts. She felt that this practice of whites-only belittled the death of her husband and him as a human being.
The Cemetery board president H Creig Vizena regretted that the family had to face such a thing. Moreover, they told none of the board members knew of such provision being in a place. He further asked all southern cemeteries to check if they had such ‘horrible’ and ‘stupid’ rule still in place.