The board Oaklin Springs Cemetery near Oberlin in Louisiana has apologized after learning that the family of a deputy had been told he could not be buried there because he was Black.

Madison and Shayla Semien were shocked when they visited the southwest Louisiana cemetery and were told that they would not be able to buy a plot for their father Allen Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Darrell Semien, who died of cancer Sunday at the age of 55.

“She just looked us cold in the face, and straight up said, ‘I can’t sell you a plot,’” Madison said.

“She said, ‘Unfortunately I’m unable to sell you a plot, this graveyard is not for people of color, it’s white human being cemetery only,’” Shayla added.

The board was scheduled to hold a meeting Thursday to remove a whites-only provision from its sales contracts.

Board President H. Creig Vizena said he was stunned the family was denied a plot on the basis of race.

Semien’s widow Karla Semien said the woman told them “there’s no coloreds allowed.”

The family said the woman had a contract in her hands that was called, “The Right of Burial of the Remains of White Human Beings.”

If the family really wanted Semien to be buried at the cemetery, they would have to seek board approval.

“I’m still very ashamed of what happened,” stated Creig Vizena. “Who wouldn’t be?”

According to Vivena, the contract was written in the 1950s when the cemetery first opened.

“It never came up,” Vizena told KPLC. “I take full responsibility for that. I’ve been the president of this board for several years now. I take full responsibility for not reading the bylaws.”

The family of Deputy Darrell Semien was shocked when they were denied a burial plot at a Louisiana cemetery for their father after he died of cancer Sunday. (Photos: Darrell Semien Obituary Video Screenshot, Allen Parish Funeral Home of Oberlin)

After receiving his cancer diagnosis in December, Semien told his family he wanted to be buried at Oaklin Springs Cemetery because it was close to his home.

Vizena apologized and offered the family a plot in the cemetery but the offer was rejected. Semien will be buried at Sonnier Cemetery in Oberlin, according to his obituary.

“My dad wasn’t any man, he was a phenomenal man,” Shayla Semien told KATC. “He was a police officer in this same community for 15 years. He was denied a place to lay because of the color of his skin.”

The employee who denied the family the plot is Vizena’s 81-year-old aunt. She has since been fired.

Vizena acknowledged that the bylaws will leave a stain on the cemetery and the community, and added,  “But we’re going to fix it.”