Church row over `white' cemetery
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An attempt by a Southern Baptist church in rural Georgia to have the body of a mixed-race infant disinterred just days after its burial to keep its cemetery "100-per-cent white" has re-ignited racial anger in the American deep south.
The controversy over the fate of the body of Whitney Johnson, who died 19 hours after birth, has cast an unwelcome pall over the Protestant Southern Baptist Convention which was founded 150 years ago partly in defence of American slavery.
Whitney's family was informed by the Barnett's Creek Baptist Church in Thomasville, Georgia, that the girl's funeral had been a mistake and that the body would have to be disinterred and buried elsewhere. Whitney's mother, Jaime Wireman, is white, and her father, Jeffrey Johnson, is black.
The astonishing message was apparently delivered by Logan Lewis, the pastor of the church. "He said they don't allow half-breeds in their cemetery," the baby's grandmother said. "[The pastor] said: `That's a 100-per-cent white cemetery'."
Mr Lewis was quoted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as saying: "There's not any mixing of cemeteries anywhere in this area. If someone white asked to be buried in a black cemetery, he'd be a laughing stock."
The church also claimed that it had been unaware of the race of the baby until it became obvious at the open-casket funeral. The pastor has since written to the funeral home to complain about "being deceived".
Such has been the publicity surrounding the affair, that the church has backed down and will allow Whitney to remain at rest alongside other deceased members of the Wireman family. But for the Baptist Convention, which last year issued a resolution to "repudiate historic acts of evil such as slavery", the damage is done.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments