The Deplorable, County-made, Reality of Burials Without Dignity

Oatka Cemetery—the Monroe County cemetery for the poor and homeless—is about 15 miles from downtown Rochester, NY. Three of us took a drive down Scottsville Road past the airport, past R.I.T., into the country, and finally through the Village of Scottsville to a small cemetery known as a “potter's field.”

We found the main cemetery and followed the road that runs through it, but did not find the South Annex of Oatka Cemetery—also known as the potter's field. We did another loop and followed a two-tire marked, muddy track that branched off from the stone road, which took us behind the main cemetery that we had just driven through. As we were rounding the bend, we saw what appeared to be bits of green in a barren field and decided to get out and investigate. It was there that we found the potter's field. To look at it from the car you would not know it was a cemetery. It was not landscaped, there were no monuments, trees or shrubs—just a field with some green, plastic markers stuck literally three inches deep into the cold, muddy ground with the names of the deceased on them—usually smaller than or as big as the names of the funeral homes that buried them, a few baskets of dead flowers and an couple of American flags. The older part of the cemetery had a couple of stone markers with the names of the deceased and the dates they were born and died. However, there were numerous, crude, wooden crosses that someone had made with the name scrawled on it in red or white paint. A couple of the plastic markers had faded so badly, that no information was observable. Most of the other graves were unmarked.

As I walked towards the more recent burials, there were more plastic markers; these were mostly legible. There were also some small thin metal markers that were pushed into the ground mostly covered by grass and mud. These markers were primarily on veterans' graves. There was one from World War II, one from the Korean War, and one from the Vietnam War. This was the area that had the most recent graves from the last 6-8 months; it was a muddy mess. Huge tire tracks, mud puddles, and mounds of dirt were strewn everywhere in this area.

I looked across the dirt road and field that separated the potter's field from the "other cemetery,” and my heart sank. I thought about how in life the poor and homeless are marginalized and isolated from the rest of society and here, in this pathetic field, away from the main cemetery were the bodies of the poor and homeless. Most of them are without names or any other identifying information to inform the living that buried in the cemetery were people—individuals—with their own histories, likes, dislikes, families, and communities. As I looked at the American flag flapping in the wind, I let out a sarcastic chuckle thinking about how this country always claims to be so moral and have such high values. Looking at that field, I saw neither.

Sister Grace Miller, at the House of Mercy on Hudson Avenue, has been fighting for the dignity and rights of poor and homeless people for decades. The issue of burials is especially close to her heart. The walls of her cramped office are covered with memorial notices—in places layers worth of memories of people that have been forgotten by mainstream society but remembered and buried with dignity by Sister Grace and the community that surrounds the House of Mercy. When she heard that County Executive Maggie Brooks had decided to cut burial benefits for the poor, she was outraged, and at the same time, filled with grief.

On March 1, 2006 County Executive Maggie Brooks, without input from citizens, made an executive decision to cut the amount of money that the county would pay to bury a poor or homeless person. Her decision forced family members to either cremate their loved ones based on the county's stipend of $1,250 or come up with about $3000 for a burial. When a person is buried in Oatka, the county does not take into account the wishes—religious or otherwise—of the deceased; nor do they consider the wishes of the family or the deceased's next of kin. In most cases, if a next of kin cannot be found, the county cremates the body. Some religions are opposed to cremation including Judaism, Islam and some branches of Christianity. Is religious freedom only for those who can afford it? Are the wishes of the deceased or the family not important? Some people have trouble with the idea of burning the bodies of their loved ones. As one mother of a 12-year old child told Sister Grace, "I can't burn my child.” Because of Maggie Brooks' decision, the poor and homeless in Monroe County are denied the dignity and compassion that every human being deserves in life and in death. Simply put, pay up or shut up. 

Brooks' policies push people deeper and deeper into poverty. When Brooks established this new policy, the county was spending $300,000 for burying the poor a year. At the same time, she approved $4.5 million for an elephant exhibit at the zoo. Her excuse for cutting the benefit from $1,850 to $1,250 was that people were having elaborate funerals costing from $6,000 - $8,000 and were taking county to subsidize these funerals, thus committing fraud. What Brooks didn't say was that the county is required to investigate those asking for funds, which was not being done. But this is nothing new with the Brooks' administration. Have you heard of the Robutrad scandal? What about the Upstate Telecommunications Corporation (UTC) scandal? And let's not forget the airport executive scandals.

When this policy was created a group calling itself the Committee for Dignified Burials came into existence. This committee started speaking out about the new policy and tried to change it. Brooks and the Republican-controlled county legislature refused to change the policy. Sister Grace says that she has buried thousands of people and in recent months has averaged about three burials a week. She said, "Many are dying due to lack of health care, whether it be due to lack of insurance and money or trans- portation to get to appointments."

With more and more people falling below the poverty line and an increase in people without health care coverage, this number is only going to increase. As Sister Grace stated, "We have to have a government that has compassion for the poor, cares for the poor and stops punishing people for being poor."

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