Fence segregates dead in Ovilla cemetery

[struggle4progress]

09:48 PM CST on Thursday, January 17, 2008
By GARY REAVES / WFAA-TV

OVILLA - ... Ovilla is a fast-growing suburb just south of Dallas ... A chain-link fence in the cemetery separates the graves of the white dead from those of the black dead ...

Even more unsettling .. is the maintenance difference that can be easily seen when looking at the two cemeteries planted side-by-side. While the black cemetery has not been maintained, the white side is kept in a near-perfect condition ...

While local blacks said their side belongs to their community, the deed says both sides belong to the Methodist church next door. The pastor at the church refused to comment ...

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/localnews/news8/stories/wfaa080117_mo_cemeterydivide.313f17ae.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. We're going back to that grand time, aren't we?

Damn... the more things change...

[struggle4progress]

2. Reports from Central Texas suggest the Neanderthals are not extinct

:evilfrown:

[Evoman]

3. Don't put down the neanderthals.

They probably had their shit together way better than these rascist motherfuckers.

[Realityhack]

4. Ugg... n/t

[knitter4democracy]

5. That pastor's bishop needs to smack him around.

If the cemetary belongs to the church, then it's the church's job to maintain it. First priority: get rid of that damn fence and get both sides mowed and trimmed up nice and neat. Ugh!

[Igel]

6. Or at least the church should treat them equally.

Lots of church and municipal cemeteries get run down or have minimum maintenance done.

Then again, the church may be treating them the same, and there's no cause for outrage. It may be that the volunteers don't see a reason to do the "other side" of the fence, or don't have time or effort to spare. '"For a long time, our cemetery was in disrepair," Green said. "In reality, the black cemetery was better kept than ours" ' seems to imply this is likely the case--with the implication that whoever kept up the "black side" didn't care much for whites.

The article doesn't answer the question, and it's one that needs answered to determine whether outrage at the apparently overt racism is merited.

The fence should probably come down, even if it means that those keeping up the "white side" get overworked and abandon the project. After all, better complete neglect than race-based neglect. I guess.