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A Louisiana widow says she was stunned when a cemetery refused a funeral plot for her husband, a black sheriff’s deputy – claiming it was only for “whites.”
Karla Semien said she tried to make arrangements at Oaklin Springs Cemetery for his wife, Allen Parish’s Deputy Sheriff Darrell Semien, after he died of cancer on Sunday, KPLC news station reported.
“It was in their statutes that the cemetery was ‘for white people’,” Karla told the newspaper. “I just looked at her and she said, ‘There are no colors allowed.'”
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Darrell’s daughter, Shayla, said the cemetery woman showed them a contract that described “the right to interment the remains of white human beings.”
Deputy Darrell Semien (Allen Parish Sheriff’s Facebook)
(Allen Parish Sheriff’s Facebook)
“She had these documents in hand which she said were written over 70 years ago,” Shayla told KATC news channel.
“If we really wanted him to be buried here, we had to get approval from the board of directors because he was a man of color.”
Her family said they were shocked not only that the discriminatory rule was part of the cemetery contract, but also at the way the woman handled the situation.
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“[She said] “I can’t sell you a plot for your husband,” another of Darrell’s daughters, Kimberly Curly, told the news channel.
“Everyone is dying. They bleed the same way. You die. You are the same color. Death has no color, so why should it be refused? she added.
His widow said she only went to the cemetery at the will of her husband because he wanted to be buried near his home.
“And being told it’s like we were nothing. He was nothing? He put his life on the line for them,” Karla said.
Creig Vizena, president of the Oaklin Springs Cemetery Association, said he was “very ashamed” to learn of the racist practice, enshrined in the contract since the 1950s, when the burial site opened.
“I promise you it will be fixed,” Vizena told KATC.
He said he takes “full responsibility” for not reading the contract before.
“It never happened. I take full responsibility for it. I have been the chairman of this board for several years now,” he said.
The cemetery said it fired the employee who fired the MP’s family, KATC reported.
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The Semien family said they were offered a plot, but would bury Darrell elsewhere.
“My dad wasn’t a man, he was a phenomenal man,” Shalya told KATC. “He was a police officer in this same community for 15 years. He was denied a place to lay eggs because of the color of his skin.”
This report originally appeared in the New York Post.
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