But Barrera says she was turned away by cemetery board member Jimmy Bradford because her late husband, Pedro Barrera was Hispanic, Fox News Latino reports. This tiny town of just over 100 people is located about an hour and a half southeast of San Antonio.
“He wasn’t supposed to be buried there, because he’s a Mexican, or of Spanish descent, or whatever you want to say,” said Bradford, who is owner of the San Domingo Cemetery Association. “That’s what I told her and that’s what we’ve been doing.”
Barrera said this has left her stunned, My San Antonio reports.
“It hurt me very bad,” she said Friday. “I’m in mourning as it is, so that’s put more mourning on me.”
Although Bradford couldn’t be reached for comment, his daughter told the Corpus Christi Caller Times that this is a misunderstanding that doesn’t have anything to do with race. Bradford’s daughter said she is the spokeswoman for the cemetery board and asked not to be identified by name.
The cemetery was originally meant for the descendants of the original founders, most of whom were white, but she said, there is no policy that barred Mexicans. The board’s decision against allowing the burial of this man was because he wasn’t a descendant and didn’t meet their criteria because he’d only been a resident for 15 years, she said.
“Fifteen years is new in little town years,” she said. “But regardless, he is a resident no matter the time frame.”
On Friday, Bee County Constable Cliff Bagwell said Bradford will allow Pedro Barrera’s ashes to be buried at the cemetery, adding that Bradford had checked the cemetery’s policy and noted that it doesn’t specify that Hispanic people can’t be buried there.
Fox News Latino reports that a 1948 Supreme Court case, Shelley v. Kraemer makes it illegal to enforce a Whites Only Cemetery because it outlaws racial covenants regarding real estate.
The issue will be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice, said Brett Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
“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,” he said. “It’s obviously very disturbing and disappointing I thought it was something we buried 50 years ago ”
Although she couldn’t be reached for comment, Fox News reports, Barrera is threatening to take legal action against the cemetery.
And the decision to proceed with the burial didn’t quell the anger now rising like a thunderstorm among state officials and civil rights groups.
State Senator Judith Zaffirini fired off a statement saying that her office had been notified of the situation and she vows to help ensure Pedro Barrera’s burial at the cemetery.
“Mrs. Barrera and her family should be mourning their loved one, instead of having to fight to secure him a resting place in his own community,” she said. “Denying someone a burial on the bases of race is not only shocking — it’s illegal.”
This is the second time in the past two months that the issue of race has been brought up in Texas. Last month, the city council of Denton, TX approved an ordinance that renounced a 1933 deed requirement at another cemetery that limited burial plots to whites only.
