Outrage over church burnings

Christian Century, June 5, 1996

The Clinton administration has defended its handling of a string of suspicious arsons at African-American churches, saying it had assigned more than 200 federal agents to investigate the incidents. Federal officials who testified at a one-day House Judiciary Committee hearing May 21 also said that while they were "actively" investigating whether the church fires resulted from a national or regional conspiracy, no evidence of such a conspiracy had been uncovered.

But religious groups as different as the Christian Coalition and the National Council of Churches, along with civil rights groups and some members of Congress, criticized the government efforts and urged law enforcement agencies to commit more resources to solving the crimes. "We have been outraged at these continuing attacks on places of worship - and sorely disappointed that until recently law enforcement in particular, as well as government and media in general, have seemed only mildly interested in focusing on these acts of terrorism," Joseph E. Lowery, president of the Atlanta-based Southern Christian Leadership Conference, told the hearing. But Lowery went on to say he was "not surprised at this feeble response" to the church burnings because the nation has denied and downplayed racism throughout its history.

Earl W. Jackson, the Christian Coalition's national liaison for urban development, called the federal response to the arsons "woefully inadequate" and placed the blame on Clinton. "The bottom line here is that the president of the United States should do what the American people elected him to do: lead," he said. "Give the appropriate law enforcement agencies clear direction and hold them accountable. "Jackson added that "there has been no serious indication to us or the public in general that he [Clinton] is interested." The coalition, which is deeply involved in this years Republican presidential campaign, has offered a $25,000 reward in the arson case.

Rights groups say there have been at least 50 suspicious burnings of African-American or predominantly black churches since 1990, primarily in the southeastern U.S. but also in Washington state, Arizona and New Jersey. According to Myron Marlin, a Justice Department spokesman, 17 of the cases have been resolved. "It is one of the largest investigations we've got going," Marlin said of the inquiry. The May 21 session, which included testimony from officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, was far less rancorous than past hearings on incidents such as the siege of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, or the shootout at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

One committee member, Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Tex.), complained of the lack of passion among her colleagues in the questioning of witnesses. The hearing, she remarked, was little more than "the pleasant experience of making pleasant inquiries" of the law enforcement officials. "You've got burned churches and burned history; you've got intimidated communities," she said, warning that the failure of the committee and law enforcement officials to sound a tougher note means that "we have a tragedy brewing here" that could lead to a loss of life as great as in Waco, where 80 Branch Davidians and four ATF agents died.

Deval Patrick, assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, told the committee that the Clinton administration "is determined to address this problem using all the law enforcement and investigative tools available." The church fires, he insisted, are "among our most important investigative and prosecutorial priorities." Similarly, John W. Magaw, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, informed the committee that it is currently investigating a church arsons at predominantly African-American churches in the Southeast. "We have committed virtually every arson investigative resource at our disposal to the investigation of the African-American church fires," Magaw said.

Patrick told the committee that "it is clear ... from some of the cases that have been solved that some of the people who have set fires at houses of worship are motivated by hate." But, he went on to say, "it is premature to draw conclusions one way or the other as to whether the fires we are seeing are part of an organized hate movement." Magaw noted that a conspiracy was uncovered involving at least two fires in South Carolina. "We have not yet - and I emphasize, not yet - found any evidence so far of an interstate or national conspiracy, but until our work is done no motive or suspect will be eliminated," he said.

The NCC stated in testimony submitted to the committee that its investigations have "uncovered striking similarities" in the arson incidents, "parallels that constitute a pattern of abuses - including the use of molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices, the spray painting of racist graffiti, the targeting of churches with a history of strong advocacy for African-American rights." The NCC submitted written testimony to the committee after its request to offer oral testimony was denied.