Muslim cemetery questioned by neighbors
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on July 28, 2015 2:14 PM
Muslims in Goldsboro have nowhere to bury their dead. But a proposed cemetery could fix that.
A public hearing on the proposed construction of a private cemetery for Muslims was held during Monday night's Goldsboro City Council meeting.
Members of the Islamic Center of Goldsboro and property owners near the proposed site on Fedelon Trail stepped forward during the hearing to share their views on the issue.
The public hearing was one of five held Monday.
Currently, the members of about 80 Muslim families in Goldsboro must bury their dead in Raleigh.
The proposed site for the cemetery is next to the Islamic Center of Goldsboro, which is located on Fedelon Trail between Salem Church Road and U.S. 117.
A protest petition was signed by 60.1 percent of property owners near the proposed site opposing the construction of the cemetery. Property owners whose land is adjacent to the site say they are concerned that a cemetery would lower their property values and possibly contaminate their well water.
"We joined with our neighbors in the Fedelon Trail community to encourage the council not to pass the zoning amendment, which includes cemetery use, to the existing zoning in the Fedelon Trail community," said Johnnie Barnes, who lives at 310 Fedelon Trail. "The Fedelon Trail community overwhelmingly -- and I think (it was) 60 percent -- and here we are in voice, recommending not to pass the petition and we, 60 percent of people in the Fedelon Trail community, signed that petition. The only reason even more didn't sign is because we didn't have the time. If we would've had the time, I'm sure the percentages would have been greater than that."
Barnes said he feared a Muslim cemetery would impact the "integrity of the community to include our family comfort, real property values and the potential effect on groundwater, given that some in the community still use well water." He said a cemetery "changes the character of an area."
He said embalming fluid would leak out of the decomposing bodies and into the water supply in the ground, contaminating the water.
But Muslims do not use embalming fluid in their burial process, and bury their dead within three days after their death, audience members said.
"I'm a member of the Muslim community that presently is in the site on the corner of Elm and Slocumb (streets)," Richard Linch said. "We do not use embalming fluid, and we try to get the body in the ground in three days. I just wanted to give you that for your information, because I've heard these last speakers talk about contaminating the land with the embalming fluid, so I just wanted to let you know we don't embalm."
Barnes also said a cemetery would negatively affect property values, citing real estate agents who say people buying homes in an area with a cemetery use it as a bargaining chip to lower the price.
William Pearman, who lives at 601 Fedelon Trail, said the proposed cemetery would block access to his tobacco farm, and an agreement was signed between his family and other families in the 1960s would be violated by the construction of a Muslim cemetery.
"There is an agreement that was filed sometime in the mid 1960s between Nanny Hollowell Singleton and my parents," Pearman said. "My parents moved here in 1936, and my grandfather bought the land for my parents and transferred the property to them sometime around 1936. The agreement between Nanny Hollowell Singleton and Charlie Penn Pearman and Mary Denning Pearman, was we would have access to our farmland from Fedelon Trail. Otherwise we would have to go all the way down to Salem Church Road, up to Hooks River Road and then up to get to our property. We've used that property for 70 some years to access that farm."
Pearman did not provide a copy of the agreement to the council, saying he did not have time to find it and secure proper documentation on the agreement before Monday night's meeting.
He said he is only trying to protect his home, neighborhood and farmland, and is doing so because he "pledges allegiance to the flag of the United States of America," and is "proud to be an American."
"This is where I was born and raised and I've lived out there all my life -- that's home," Pearman said.
But Hamin Muhammad, a member of Goldsboro Muslim community who has lived in Goldsboro for 30 years, said the opposition to the cemetery has nothing to do with property values, groundwater contamination or maintaining the community's integrity. It is because the cemetery would be for Muslims, he said.
"First off, I want to say that I pledge allegiance to the American flag, OK? And I did serve in the military in the Air Force, which is how I wound up in Goldsboro, North Carolina," Muhammad said. "I know, as a Muslim looking at the news and seeing the actions of some of our citizens all over the country that they hate on Muslims. They don't even know anything about what Islam is about, or what the prophet Mohammed -- peace and blessings be upon him -- was about. Everything that they put on him is not true, and everything that you believe about Muslims is not true. The fact of the matter is that we are an asset to any community that we move into. The people who are doing some of these things all over the world who call themselves Muslims -- they are not acting as Muslims."
Muhammad said he has seen many cemeteries in residential areas, none of which contaminate the groundwater or cause a controversy in the communities they are placed in.
"It has nothing to do with contaminating the land," he said. "As the man before me said, we don't embalm our dead. I've seen many cemeteries in residential areas. I'm just saying to search through your hearts and your minds, purify your hearts and your mind, and please, allow this situation to go forward."
For Hason McBride, having a cemetery in Goldsboro would have prevented him from needing to drive an hour to visit his father's grave in Raleigh.
"Last year, July 29, I had to bury my father, who was also a Muslim who lived here all his life," McBride said. "Unfortunately, since we didn't have a cemetery here, we had to take him to Raleigh. Now, I don't want to get any sympathy, because I would have taken him to California if I had to bury my father there."
McBride said his father had seven siblings who all left Goldsboro, but after serving in the military for 10 years and being honorably discharged, his father chose to stay in Goldsboro.
McBride's father also helped found the mosque of the Islamic Center of Goldsboro on the corner of Slocumb and Elm streets.
"He died at Wayne Memorial Hospital, and we had to take him to Raleigh because we don't have a place here," he said. "Like the person said, please open your hearts. It's humane. We have to bury our dead. We live here in Goldsboro, we serve Goldsboro, we pay our taxes in Goldsboro -- why can't we bury our loved ones in Goldsboro?"
No action will be taken on whether or not the cemetery will be approved until the council's next meeting on Aug. 3.