ROCKWALL — A simple plan for the city of Rockwall to maintain an old cemetery has dredged up painful memories of history and race.
Negotiations are under way that could lead to the city owning a historically black burial ground. The cemetery sits on Highway 205, which is the main road into Rockwall and a prime site for development.
Several months ago, managers at the cemetery asked the City of Rockwall to take over maintenance. The city wants a formal agreement and may end up taking ownership. However, some say they want some commitments to be made from the city first.
"This is a place we chose for them to rest," said City Council member Sam Buffington, referring to the site where he buried his mother and father.
The cemetery is on land donated to three African American churches in the 1930s, when the law of "separate but unequal" followed blacks to their graves.
"My fear is what could happen," Buffington said. "They could decide to take this for another purpose and the bodies be moved."
Buffington said he has seen it happen before when Rockwall's first black cemetery ended up on prime land after Lake Ray Hubbard was built.
"We got some of our cemetery out here in the streets, in the alleys and under some of these houses, I'm sad to say," he said.
Only a few stones remain. Most of the graves are unmarked, surrounded by upscale lake-view homes.
That decision is why Buffington said he wants the city to sign a promise that if it stops using the other cemetery for burials, ownership will go back to the original three black churches.
"The word is desecration," Buffington said. "We don't want it to happen no more in Rockwall."
Assistant City Manager Rick Crowley said the fears are unfounded. "We have no interest in any sort of development," he said.
Buffington said he simply wants to see that in writing.
"We put our families here hoping they will be here until the day of the resurrection," he said. "We don't need them to come and move them."
City officials planned a Monday night meeting with community members to discuss future plans. The City Manager’s office said its main goal is to listen to the community and come up with a plan that is fair to all.
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