Of the now-seven black churches that have burned in the week since the Charleston massacre, at least three are currently being investigated by the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau as possible arsons. The latest church, Mount Zion AME in Greeleyville, was burned by KKK members already in 1995. (The WhoIsBurningBlackChurches tag on Twitter is a particularly helpful tool.)
Matt Pearce has been covering this beat for the last week or so at the LA Times; it’s worth following him on Twitter if you want to get the latest updates:
Investigators were also looking into what caused the fires that destroyed black churches in Macon, Ga., and Warrenville, S.C., though officials said they have not found a cause or any evidence of criminal intent in those blazes.
The ATF has taken the lead on investigating the fires in Charlotte and Macon. A spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that there was no update on those cases.
You can read the Times’ complete reporting about the fires in this story. None of the fires have been declared hate crimes.
The African-American Registry goes into a brief history of racist attacks on black churches in America:
In the late 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, the Black Church functioned as the institutional center for Black mobilization. They provided an organizational base and meeting place, for African-Americans to strategize their moves in the ongoing fight against racial segregation and oppression. As Black Churches became the epicenter of the social and political struggles for Black equality, they increasingly became targets for racially motivated violence. An extensive assault on members of a Black community took place by burning a Black Church.
The bombing and burning of Black churches during this time translated into an attack upon the core of civil rights activism, as well as upon the larger Black religious community. The most infamous example of racist American church destruction occurred on September 15, 1963. When the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was fire bombed, the explosion was felt by the entire Black community. Four children killed in the attack, several others injured, and a community’s sense of security within their church was forever traumatized.
This act signified the depths to which racial hatred could fall. Like many other churches bombed before and after, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was a Black Church. Even though the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was implicated in this crime, members of the KKK were not the only ones responsible for similar acts of terror throughout the country. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident. These racially motivated arsons did not destroy the souls of Black communities.
Mother Jones has a more extensive timeline of similar fires and bombings, if you’re looking for a more thorough historical approach.
From the Washington Post:
Early June 24, someone called 911 to report that Charlotte’s Briar Creek Road Baptist Church had been set ablaze.
“The Baptist church on Briar Creek Road right before Central, it’s on fire,” the caller told dispatchers. “It’s really big.”
It took more than 75 firefighters over an hour to get the fire under control and, by then, it had caused more than $250,000 worth of damage and demolished the church’s main building, The Post reported. Charlotte Fire Department Senior Investigator David Williams later said in a statement that a probe determined the fire “was intentionally set.”
From the Kansas City Star:
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a United Methodist pastor, told The Star on Monday that while the recent church fires are a cause for concern, “this is nothing new for the black church community.”
“Attacking our churches has been a means of retaliation for progress almost since the beginning of the black church,” said Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat. “In many ways this is just a continuation after a recess by the racists.”
I was able to find an ecumenical fund that’s raising money to help these churches rebuild, but I haven’t been able to verify it; if anyone can confirm that this is a legitimate operation or knows of a better resource to direct anyone who wants to help toward, let us know in the comments.
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I feel SORT OF DUMB telling you guys to check a hashtag in the first paragraph, because I bet most of you have already seen it and don’t need my help looking for very popular trending topics on Twitter, but like, it also can’t hurt??
It is a roundup of links, so it is helpful that this link is also click-able and present.
My only access to Twitter is via the UK company account I run and which, while I sneakily use it for my own personal use as much as is possible, mostly follows gift boutiques and museum shops and has a news feed full of information on Omg Latest Hot New Products For Summer!!! Any pointers towards what is going on in the world of actual important things is very welcome – and what’s happening under the WhoIsBurningBlackChurches hashtag is as important as it is horrifying.
not everyone is on twitter, but they can still use the hashtag to search for information and see what is happening. so it is definitely useful.
no do it get the word out
No, it’s very helpful. I can’t find a damn’ thing on Twitter if people don’t steer me to it with a hashtag. That site needs librarians or something.
Christ Church Cathedral is the real deal – not sure if there is a better/more locally organized fund, but I would feel comfortable giving to this one if nothing else is out there. Christ Church is based in downtown St. Louis, MO and I admire their dedication to intersectionality, promoting anti-racism, supporting the city and just being an open and welcoming congregation.
I agree! I live in STL and have done some work with them (emergency sheltering during winter). They’re good.
What up in the 314! My contact with them has been limited, but I’ve always left events in their space/with their people reminded of the potential for organized religion to be a force for good. I’m glad my impressions aren’t flukes!
“The latest church, Mount Zion AME in Greeleyville, was burned by KKK members already in 1995.”
Worth noting that this fire is not one of the three currently being investigated as an arson. Authorities right now are saying it wasn’t an intentionally set fire: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2e66bc3a7abb46c795…
OH MY GOD I posted the following thing on Facebook and immediately got a bunch of comments like “well how do you expect me to walk to a black church? Black churches are in black neighborhoods!” I honestly can’t tell whether it was sarcasm or not and so I am going to delete the post, but I want to share it here where it will have a wider audience anyway:
Adapted from a friend of a friend:
By my count, this is the seventh one in a week. If you’re wondering, “when will this end?” the answer is, “when allies like you take the night shift”.
Each of you “NotAllSoutherners!” needs to grab a fire extinguisher, grab a pail, grab that gun you’re so fond of saying is for defense, and walk down the block to your neighborhood black church tonight that hasn’t burned down yet, and take your turn providing perimeter security.
Take your camera phone; record evidence. Take your wallet; donate to the church’s mission fund. Take a pan of brownies; offer it to the trembling. Take your guilt and your bewilderment and your indignation; tie it to your neighborhood watch armband.
Bleed on the lintel. The angel of death will not enter.
Each of you “NotAllSoutherners!” needs to grab a fire extinguisher, grab a pail, grab that gun you’re so fond of saying is for defense, and walk down the block to your neighborhood black church tonight that hasn’t burned down yet, and take your turn providing perimeter security.
YES THANK YOU
OH MY GOD I posted the following thing on Facebook and immediately got a bunch of comments like "well how do you expect me to walk to a black church? Black churches are in black neighborhoods!" I honestly can't tell whether it was sarcasm or not and so I am going to delete the post, but I want to share it here where it will have a wider audience anyway:
Adapted from a friend of a friend:
By my count, this is the seventh one in a week. If you're wondering, "when will this end?" the answer is, "when allies like you take the night shift".
Each of you "NotAllSoutherners!" needs to grab a fire extinguisher, grab a pail, grab that gun you're so fond of saying is for defense, and walk down the block to your neighborhood black church tonight that hasn't burned down yet, and take your turn providing perimeter security.
Take your camera phone; record evidence. Take your wallet; donate to the church's mission fund. Take a pan of brownies; offer it to the trembling. Take your guilt and your bewilderment and your indignation; tie it to your neighborhood watch armband.
Bleed on the lintel. The angel of death will not enter.
I find the Mother Jones article particularly helpful. I have been watching the news of these fires and have been contending with two, equally horrifying possibilities –
1. This has been a thing, a constant, ongoing thing, and we’re (white, ally-type people) only noticing it now.
2. A new pattern is emerging.
Kinda looks like 2, doesn’t it?