A Sheriff’s Deputy’s wife in Ohio has said she was banned from burying her husband in their local cemetery as a result of a racist “white’s only” policy.
Allen Parish Deputy Darrell Semien, who was diagnosed with cancer in December, had requested to be buried in Oaklin Springs Cemetery, Oberlin, prior to his death so that he could remain close to his home, WTXF-TV reported.
However, when his wife enquired about buying a plot following her husband's death on Sunday, the cemetery told her that it only allows certain races to be buried there.
“It was in their by-laws that the cemetery was ‘white’s only,’” Karla Semien told the broadcaster. “I just kinda looked at her and she said ‘there’s no coloreds allowed.’”
“Just blatantly, with no remorse, I can’t sell you a plot for your husband,” Semien’s daughter, Kimberly Curly, told the broadcaster.
The Semien family has said that the anger they felt at being confronted with the racist policy combined with the grief of losing a loved one is overwhelming.
“To be told this is like we were nothing. He was nothing? He put his life on the line for them,” Karla Semien said.
The President of the Oaklin Springs Cemetery Association, Creig Vizena, told WTXF-TV that he was “ashamed” of the incident.
Mr Vizena said that their cemetery contract, which dates back to the 50′s, specifies only “white human beings” be buried there.
“It never came up,” said Mr Vizena. “I take full responsibility for that. I’ve been the president of this board for several years now. I take full responsibility for not reading the by-laws.”
The Semiens say the cemetery president attempted to rectify the problem by changing the by-laws, but that this cannot change what they initially experienced.
"My dad wasn't any man, he was a phenomenal man," Shayla Semien told KATC. "He was a police officer in this same community for 15 years. He was denied a place to lay because of the colour of his skin."
“Everybody dies,” Ms Curly told WTXF-TV. “They bleed the same. You die. You’re the same colour. Death has no colour, so why should he be refused?”
Cemetery board members are reportedly making a decision by Thursday to resolve the issue.
Mr Vizena said that he offered the family one of his own plots at the cemetery, adding that he felt “strongly” about fixing the incident. Reports said the family has now declined a plot.
The employee who denied the Semien family burial has also reportedly been fired.
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