By Victor Omondi

For many decades, there was a fence separating the black cemeteries from the white in the East Texas town of Mineola. But finally, the fence has been brought down. On Wednesday, in a historic moment, crews started digging up the chain-link fence about 1,280 feet long.

The fence separated the City Cemetery, which had graves of Black people from Cedars Memorial Garden, a historically private cemetery for the whites. The project was completed on Friday evening.

Pastor Demethrius Boyd of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church said that although the removal of the been the desire of the Blacks for many decades, he started pushing for it upon his arrival in 2007.

“The symbolism that it represents is far beyond the year that we are now in in race relations,” said Boyd, who is Black, “and the perspective that it gives off is far beyond the time that we need to make sure that we promote things that are more positive in nature.”

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Earlier on, Boyd was able to persuade the Cedars board to allow an easement from its U.S. 69 front gate to the City Cemetery that could only be accessed from an obscure entrance from a back road. According to the pastor, the improved access benefited both parties.

However, following nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, there was a need to remove anything that symbolizes white supremacy, and that fence was one of them. As a result, the council approved community development funds to send crews to bring down the fence.

“I began to pursue conversations with other parties on both sides,” Boyd said. “It was a partnership and conclusion to take it down.”

According to Boyd, the next step is to either merge the two cemeteries or create a single organization to take care of both. The majority have reacted positively to the changes, and there has been a mutual understanding. Boyd said it was the right time to make such a move.

“I think it’s great [that] everybody was talking about it and a solution was reached. Now the two cemeteries, we’re going to join up together so it’s just going to be one cemetery,” Boyd said.

Source: Fence Separating Black and White Cemeteries in Texas Town Is Finally Removed