Story out of Normanna, Texas:
Dorothy Barrera was married to her late husband, Pedro, for more than 40 years before he died in February.
He was Hispanic. She is white. Dorothy expected they would eventually be together again when she was buried beside Pedro in the San Domingo Cemetery in the tiny, rural town of Normanna.
But when she looked to bury his ashes in the
cemetery, she allegedly ran into the cemetery’s “whites only” policy —
an apparent relic of Jim Crow-era segregation in Texas that’s thrust this small community, located an hour northwest of Corpus Christi, into a modern-day desegregation fight.
That’s what is alleged in a federal lawsuit brought by the Mexican
American Legal Defense and Educational Fund against the Normanna
Cemetery Association, which oversees the cemetery. The lawsuit alleges
the association is violating the federal Civil Rights Act by enforcing a
“whites only” rule at the San Domingo Cemetery, leaving Hispanics and other non-whites to be buried in the nearby Del Bosque Cemetery.
The cemetery association later backtracked, allowing the burial to
move forward. Details about the association's governing board are not
public, and it's unclear who makes up the board. A listing with
GuideStar shows that the association's tax exempt status was revoked by
the IRS.
“Whites only” cemeteries have been illegal since 1948
when the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial covenants on real estate.
State law also dictates that cemetery organizations may not “adopt or enforce a rule” that prohibits burials based on “race, color, or national origin of decedent.” Cont.
Story from - The Texas Tribune
Image from - Wikimedia Commons
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