You should be ashamed!

[sensitiveguy]

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- More than a year ago, an unidentified woman's body was found on a road, her dark hair shorn off, a plastic bag taped around her head, her hands severed. She had been strangled and tossed away by her killer.

Today, the crime remains unsolved, the murder victim's name is still unknown and efforts to bury her have set off controversy in Waller County -- a rural area just west of Houston that is long roiled by racial divisions.

The victim is white, while the funeral home and cemetery that a justice of the peace initially chose to handle her burial in Hempstead are historically black.

But Waller County Commissioners Court balked at paying for that burial. When activists started raising questions about the county's hesitation at burying the woman in a black cemetery, the commissioners asked a white-owned funeral home in Waller to handle arrangements.

That outraged Walter Pendleton, a local black minister who filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Hempstead that forced it to integrate its public cemeteries.

"I'm just appalled right now. I can't believe this county stooped that low," he said. "The county overstepped its boundary to get a white funeral home to pick up the body so that it could not be buried in a black cemetery."

The victim would be the first known white person buried in a black cemetery in Waller County. Since March 25, Waller County has paid neighboring Harris County $50 a day to store the body.

"I have never seen such defiance and determination to protect a segregated system," said DeWayne Charleston, the Waller County justice of the peace who first ordered the black funeral home to handle the arrangements.

Judge Owen Ralston, the county's top elected official, denied that racial issues were at play. "I didn't know if the victim was black or white, and I didn't care," Ralston said.

Rather, he attributed the delay in burial to the black funeral home director's insistence that the county sign a letter guaranteeing payment. Ralston said that went against county policy, and instead contacted another funeral home to handle the arrangements.

The white-owned funeral home picked up the woman's body on Monday -- the same day community activists sent out a news release calling attention to the situation.

That a nameless murder victim's burial is stirring claims of racial discrimination is not surprising in Waller County.

In 2006, the Texas Attorney General investigated claims that the rights of black voters were violated. Earlier this year, students at historically black Prairie View A&M University protested to bring attention to racially motivated voting problems in Waller County.

"The issue of racism always raises its head here -- from voting rights to education, to the criminal justice system," Charleston said. "Waller County is stuck in the 19th century."

Charleston said he wasn't trying to cause trouble when he ordered the black funeral home to handle arrangements for the woman. He was simply struck by the brutality of the crime and the poignancy of a murder victim with no family to claim her.

"You never know what her circumstances were. She could be from Texas and estranged from her family. She could be the victim of human trafficking," Charleston said. "She's certainly entitled to a dignified burial no matter what the circumstances. I'm treating her as though she is a kin of mine."

The woman's nude and mutilated body was found on a Prairie View road just before dawn on March 18, 2007. She is believed to be between 30 and 50 years old, and was likely killed at another location, then dumped on the roadside, police say.

"It was gruesome and that no one identified her or claimed her makes it more horrific," Charleston said. "I thought that this woman, if nothing else, was going to have the distinction of integrating Waller County cemeteries."

[sensitiveguy]

All the judge was tryin to do was give this girl a decent burial and it caused all this ruckus. Leave it the folks in Houston! LOL

[KHARMA]

Originally Posted by sensitiveguy

All the judge was tryin to do was give this girl a decent burial and it caused all this ruckus. Leave it the folks in Houston! LOL

***draws line in the sand***

I dare you to step over this line SG!!

Its not even worth the fuss, had this been a black woman, no stank would be raised to have her buried in a white cemetery...just bury the woman and let her rest in peace. Everything does not need to be catagorized as "racist."

[TUCKER]

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, "DAMN THEM HOUSTONIANS KNOW HOW TO PARTY!!!!"

Oh and I think it would be an even bigger fuss if the woman were Black and to be buried in a traditionally ALL white cemetery.

[KHARMA]

Originally Posted by TUCKER

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, "DAMN THEM HOUSTONIANS KNOW HOW TO PARTY!!!!"

Oh and I think it would be an even bigger fuss if the woman were Black and to be buried in a traditionally ALL white cemetery.

"no stank would be raised to have her buried in a white cemetery"

meaning, if she (black woman) was found in a predominantly white area, and was buried or to be buried in a black cemetery, the white community would not be lobbying to have her buried in a white cemetery.

[BISHOP]

WOW....late telling the slaves in TX they were free and late in telling the folks down there that Jim Crow is dead.

TGIF

[angeladc]

boy , i tell ya' people know how to blow up anything what does it matter where's she's buried? it's not like she can look around and notice she's the only white person there.

[TUCKER]

Originally Posted by KHARMA

"no stank would be raised to have her buried in a white cemetery"

meaning, if she (black woman) was found in a predominantly white area, and was buried or to be buried in a black cemetery, the white community would not be lobbying to have her buried in a white cemetery.

So I suppose the pizzareia incident was one in a million. Or come to think of it, wasn't there some cat named Byrd who was dragged behind the pick up truck of some good ol boys from Texas because he was Black? I know they don't symbolize all of Texas, but I hardly doubt that woman would be buried in a barbarian cemetery without some hub bub close to mess in Jena, La.

[TUCKER]

Originally Posted by angeladc

boy , i tell ya' people know how to blow up anything what does it matter where's she's buried? it's not like she can look around and notice she's the only white person there.

You make a valid point, but there is still something to be said about TRADITIONS, even Black people respect them, to a point.

[KHARMA]

Originally Posted by TUCKER

So I suppose the pizzareia incident was one in a million. Or come to think of it, wasn't there some cat named Byrd who was dragged behind the pick up truck of some good ol boys from Texas because he was Black? I know they don't symbolize all of Texas, but I hardly doubt that woman would be buried in a barbarian cemetery without some hub bub close to mess in Jena, La.

I dont think you're understanding my statement....I give up, though...a missed med day today, Tucker?

[TUCKER]

Originally Posted by KHARMA

a missed med day today, Tucker?

No, I think the pharmacist is watering it down to get more of it.