"Fires of hate" kindle national fightback: Leaders vow to end racist wave of church arson

by Tim Wheeler

This article was reprinted from the July 20, 1996 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

NEW YORK - More than 3,000 people - Black, Brown and white - overflowed Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church July 15 to protest the plague of racist church burnings and to cheer the formation of a nationwide campaign to combat racist violence.

Rev. Mac Charles Jones, associate for racial justice of the National Council of Churches (NCC) and pastor of the St. Stephen's Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo., told the crowd, "What began as an awful tragedy has become a watershed event. The horror of burned Black churches has become a mortar that has drawn us together in a way we have not seen in 30 years. It has touched a responsive chord."

Rallies against racist violence will be held in 12 cities in coming weeks, Jones announced. "We're going to be calling for a national mobilization against racism, for a march on a city in the South [before the elections]."

Jones greeted Willie Baker, leader of the United Food and Commercial Workers, who came to the rally from Washington. Jones hailed the labor movement as an ally in the anti-racist struggle. Arlene Holt of the AFL-CIO pledged the full support of the labor movement. "Together, we can stamp out racism in this country," she said.

Jones said the wave of church arsons "is related to what happened in Oklahoma City. It is all part of the same network."

He was referring to the bombing of the federal building in April 1995 with the death of 186 people. The crime has been linked to the white supremacist armed militias.

Jones announced that so far more than $7 million has been contributed to rebuild the 80 or more churches burned since 1990. "We want to use this money not just for rebuilding churches but to launch the assault against racism." Jones said the flames of racism have been fanned by policymakers in Washington in their "attack on affirmative action and immigrant rights."

Jones appealed to white church leaders, some of whom were in his audience, to mobilize their congregations. "Some people would like to resolve their guilt by rebuilding the church and leaving the climate alone," he said. "White people have to understand that resolving racism is in their own best interests ... The test of democracy in America is the delivery of racial justice ...."

Several pastors of burned churches from Georgia and Albama were in the audience and spoke at the meeting.

Obie Clark, leader of the Mississippi NAACP, said church arson has long been a tactic of the Ku Klux Klan. "In 1955, we had 12 churches burned and bombed in a six month period," he said. "I got my experience by standing guard at a church with a 12 gauge Browning automatic."

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee who chaired recent hearings on the church fires, denounced the "good ol' boy network" in the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who have often treated the victims of arson as the perpetrators.

"The fires, he said are "not only a tragedy but an opportunity that lies within the tragedy." The challenge is to expose those who "created the psychological environment that led sick individuals to torch the churches. Some of them are in the House of Representatives in Washington D.C." The crowd roared.

The Michigan lawmaker denounced these "blue dog" politicians."They came to us. 'We want a meeting. Let's catch them!' Even those who encouraged this violence now want to disassociate themselves from the vile deeds."

The crowd cheered again as Conyers added, "When Newt Gingrich is deposed as Speaker of the House, you may be addressing me as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. This is connected to 112 days from now when we will decide what direction this country will go."

Conyers blamed the church fires on "domestic terrorists who were planning to overthrow our country for years. It was ignored until a man named Timothy McVeigh was arrested [for the Oklahoma City bombing] and linked to the armed militias of Michigan. There are the Vipers, the Skinheads, Aryan Nation."

NCC General Secretary Joan Brown Campbell said, "If we believe we are one in the Lord, then we believe that racism has no place in our family. Your churches are our churches and when your churches burn, our churches burn. When pastors receive hate calls in the middle of the night, when their children are threatened, then freedom is in danger."

She called on her fellow white pastors to "raise their voices ... not to be silent any longer." The church fires, she said, "simply gives a signal that racism continues to be a problem in these United States."