Waller County, Texas, where Sandra Bland was found dead in a jail cellthree days after she was arrested at a traffic stop, is known for its watermelon festival – and its long history of racial tension.

That tension continues to the grave. As elsewhere in Texas, cemeteries in Waller County have long followed an unofficial pattern of segregation: whites are buried with whites, blacks are buried with blacks.

“This is the most racist county in the state of Texas which is probably one of the most racist states in the country,” said DeWayne Charleston, a former Waller County judge who in 2007 ordered a black funeral home to handle the burial of an unidentified white woman, sparking controversy when activists claimed that other officials intervened to stop a white person being buried next to black corpses.

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