Ongoing arson attacks of Black and multi-racial Churches are
This is the 4th wave of burnings in our nation's history. The total number of all church fires/attacks documented by the government's since 1995, some 520 burnings or desecrations (as of 1997) likely represents only a percentage of the actual number of fires, many unreported and not documented.
The nation has been lulled back into quiet acceptance. A report to the President by the Department of Justice and Treasury announced in June 1997 there was no evidence of a widespread conspiracy; yet fires continue and can be linked to increased incidents of racially motivated violence.
In Tennessee, a church burning was reported within 48 hours of the Oct. `97 organizing meeting of the National Coalition of Burned Church Pastors for Community Empowerment. Two weeks later, fires surrounded the weekend youth conference in South Carolina for the children of the burned churches. New Hope Church of Christ in Tennessee burned on Feb. 25, 1997; South Carolina's Prayer House Mission and Shiloh Baptist Church burned in June 1997.
We do not know for certain how many churches have burned. The government suggests that some 175 churches burned in 1997; the new coalition of burned church pastors estimates the number to be closer to 230. We are certain there have been more arsons than official government statistics report.
There is also violence that is linked to burnings, such as the attempted murders in Pelion, South Carolina. A klan rally evidently helped motivate young white men on the heels of S.C. fires to shoot randomly at the front of a youth club. In a letter found in the shooters' car, the white youth boasted to the Christian knights of the ku klux klan of their success in killing the Black teens out in front of the club. While not murdered, the young man most severely hurt remains traumatized and has partial loss of the use of an arm and leg. His mother tells of his fear every night as he goes to bed that there will be another attempt to kill him.
"Hate sites" on the World Wide Web indicate a level of widespread conspiracy and other Internet communications. Lives of burned church pastors and their families continue to be threatened. These attacks are linked to other acts of attempted
murder, klan rallies and other gatherings, as burnings have become
the professed harbinger of a race war at the turn of the millennium. Burnings can be part of an initiation rite of passage into hate groups, linked to the Christian knights of the klan and other white supremacist groups.
Even for those churches which have rebuilt, there is much work and healing yet to be done. Rev. Donaldson of Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Humboldt, TN says he is blessed to have his church rebuilt, but needs resources to reconstruct the Church's outreach ministries. It is "on his heart" he says. Many churches remain un-built, unable to get needed funds or bank loans. Some have begun rebuilding without sufficient funds to complete construction -- "stepping out on faith" they call it. Many churches do not qualify for the available grants, having been 'ruled' accidental by fire investigators. Fires are said to have been caused by faulty electrical wiring, by improperly extinguished cigarette butts, in one case a rat was said to have caused the fire by chewing through an electrical wire. There are a great number of recent "accidents."
In the 1996 Arson Prevention Act, $10 million was set aside for federal loan (HUD) guarantee for churches to rebuild. But pastors speak of the unmanageable hurdles attempting to get guarantees and loans.
Ladonia, Texas' Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist tells a often-repeated refrain-- the local fire department never investigated their fire. The church treasurer, Wynetta McCoy called the 800 line established for burned churches three times-- no response. The local sheriff reported to the newspaper that the fire was likely due to the very old structure's electrical wiring. But after vandals attacked the church in 1995, all new electrical wiring was installed - this "supposed" very old wiring was less than 2 years old. Since the January 19th, 1996 burning, nothing has been reported to this congregation of 29 members. Mt. Zion was one of the few churches which did get approved for a HUD guarantee-- then their local bank, with whom the church has a 60 year relationship, turned them down
1998
We need your help clipping newspaper reports and printing out World Wide Web news reports on hate crime activity in your community and elsewhere.