Deputy Denied Burial At “Whites Only” Cemetery
Louisiana cemetery board president apologizes and promises change after the family Darrell Semien, a sheriff's deputy who recently lost his life to cancer, was turned away during their search for a burial plot. KPLC's Jennifer Lott reports.
(NBC News) — A Louisiana cemetery has changed their contractual by-laws after the family of a late sheriff’s deputy was turned away while seeking a burial plot because of the color of their skin.
Deputy Darrell Semien was diagnosed with cancer in December. In the last month and nine days of his life, Semien talked with his family about burial plans, telling them he wanted to be laid to rest at Oaklin Springs Cemetery because it was close to home.
When his wife went to meet with a cemetery official, she was shocked to hear her husband couldn’t be buried there.
“It was in their by-laws that the cemetery was ‘whites only,’” says widow Karla Semien. “I just kinda looked at her and she said ‘There’s no coloreds allowed.’”
The President of the Oaklin Springs Cemetery Association, Creig Vizena, said he wasn’t aware of the policy prior to the visit from the Semien family.
“It never came up,” Vizena said. “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.”
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