A cemetery in Normanna, Texas recently denied a woman the right to bury her husband because — wait for it — he is Hispanic. The burial site, named San Domingo Cemetery (smh), has a policy that does not allow black or Latino people to be buried there, reports Fox News Latino. When Donna Barrera questioned why her spouse couldn’t be laid to rest, the owner simply said no.
“He wasn’t supposed to be buried there, because he’s a Mexican, or of Spanish descent, or whatever you want to say. That’s what I told her and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Jimmy Bradford, the owner of the San Domingo Association cemetery told Kiiitv in South Texas.
Bradford explained that the land belonged to his great, great grandfather who asked that it will only be used for the people of Normanna. When questioned whether or not he will have a change of heart, he said this: “Well, I guess if she tells Obama and he comes down here and tells me I guess I’d have to. Otherwise, No.”
Seriously?
This isn’t the first time an issue of a “whites only cemetery” in Texas has come up. Back in February, a council in the city of Denton unanimously approved an ordinance that revoked a 1933 deed requirement at a cemetery there that limited its burial space to just white people.
Because it’s illegal to enforce a “whites only” cemetery (based on the 1948 Supreme Court case Shelley vs. Kraemer, which denies racial biases on real estate), the national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Brent Wilkes, aims to present this issue to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“We intend to refer the issue to the department of justice. You can’t discriminate on the basis of race. It is completely illegal and against the constitution, and we intend to ensure that this cemetery is opened up,” Wilkes said. “”It’s obviously very disturbing and disappointing I thought it was something we buried 50 years ago.”
Something we buried 50 years ago… ha.
“I love my husband with all my heart,” Barrera said of her deceased husband Pedro Barrera.”That was 44 years with him and then all of a sudden this comes out of the woodwork.”