Cemetery apologizes after Black deputy is denied burial
by Janet McConnaughey, The Associated Press
Posted Jan 28, 2021 1:36 pm EDT
Last Updated Jan 28, 2021 at 1:44 pm EDT
The board of a Louisiana cemetery that denied burial to a Black sheriff’s deputy is holding an emergency meeting Thursday to remove a whites-only provision from its sales contracts.
Board President H. Creig Vizena said he was stunned and ashamed to learn that the family of Allen Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Darrell Semien, who died Sunday, had been told that he could not be buried at the Oaklin Springs Cemetery near Oberlin in southwest Louisiana because he was African American.